ACTING IGP HITS GROUND RUNNING (FRONT PAGE) 30-01-09

Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE first policewoman to act as Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, yesterday assumed her new role with a pledge to wage a relentless war on criminal activities throughout the country.
In line with that pledge, the police undertook an operation to flush out criminals in some parts of Accra, with the short-term objective of ensuring that people go about their normal duties freely in the first 100 days in office of President J. E. A. Mills.
In the long term, however, she promised to offer maximum security for the nation and banish fear from among the people by sustaining the fight against crime, particularly armed robbery.
On her first day in office, Mrs Mills-Robertson chaired a meeting of the Police Headquarters Management Advisory Board, the second highest organ of the service after the Police Council, to share some of her vision with the hierarchy of the service.
Taking office as the first female police head since policing was introduced in the country in the 1800s and at a time crime has become very sophisticated, Mrs Mills-Robertson faces a Herculean task but she is counting on the support of her subordinates and cordiality with the general public to succeed.
She promised to ensure a congenial atmosphere in the country and to ensure the protection of life and property as mandated by the 1992 Constitution.
A product of Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast and the University of Ghana, and a Barrister at Law from the Ghana School of Law, Mrs Mills-Robertson promised to inspire other female police officers to rise to the top.
She is a mother of four and married to Dr Mills-Robertson, who works in the US.
The police operation carried out yesterday formed part of a nationwide exercise to clamp down on criminals.
“We want to send a clear message to all criminals that we will flush them out,” the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, told journalists in Accra, following the arrest of some suspected criminals in the operation.
Fifty-eight suspects, some of whom are said to be pushers and smokers of Indian Hemp, were arrested in separate swoops on Teshie, Nungua and Madina, all in Accra.
The suspects are to be screened by the Kpeshie and Madina Police Divisional Commands under whose jurisdiction the arrests were made. Those found to have criminal records will be prosecuted, while those identified as clean will be set free.
Meanwhile, the Nima Divisional Police have arrested three suspected armed robbers for allegedly attempting to snatch a taxicab from its driver for an armed robbery operation.
They are Evans Addison, 25; Faisal Akilu, 20, and Jonathan Akrofi Boahen, 27. A fourth accomplice, James Cofie Mensah, is, however, on the run.
Briefing newsmen on the incident, ACP Awuni said the four suspects chartered a Fiat Tico taxi with registration number GT 4876 S around 1:20 a.m. yesterday from Nima to the Nyaho Clinic area.
He said when they reached the M-Plaza Hotel area, the suspects pointed a pistol at the taxi driver and collected the car key and GH¢40 from him.
Unfortunately for them, they could not start the vehicle and sensing danger as the driver kept shouting for help, they took to their heels.
ACP Awuni said Boahen was left behind and as he struggled out of the car, he pointed the pistol at the driver threatening to shoot him.
But after realising that there was no bullet in the pistol, the driver pursued Boahen and with the help of some ex-soldiers around, he managed to arrest him.
ACP Awuni said later the police took Boahen to his house for a search only to find Akilu and Faisal there, and they were promptly arrested.