The arrangement, which forms part of the efforts to fight crime before, during and after the end-of-year celebrations, has been dubbed “Operation Father Christmas.”

Since 2010, the Police Administration has been rolling out “Operation Father Christmas”  with route marches in all the regional capitals to send a signal to criminals on the resolve of the police to fight crime.

Assurance

Launching the sixth edition of  “Operation Father Christmas” in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of Operations of the Ghana Police Services, Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, assured the public of maximum security “to enable them to celebrate the season in peace devoid of crime.”

He said the police administration would deploy scores of police personnel to strategic locations across the country to curb the activities of criminals.

Places where the personnel would be deployed include business centres, the beaches, religious events and other places of entertainment.

“Research has shown that during festive periods, crime wave goes up. This is because there is an increase in the movement of persons, increase in commercial and social activities and this makes it easy for criminals to commit crimes,” he said.

Mr Yohuno mentioned petty theft, shoplifting, robberies, assaults and other offences as some of the crimes committed during such seasons.

The police, he said, would provide 24-hour shift patrols on foot and in patrol vehicles across the country to deter criminals from engaging in illegal activities and also to arrest perpetrators of crime.

Additionally, Mr Yohuno said personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service would be deployed to the market centres, places of religious worship and entertainment centres to gather intelligence and arrest criminals.

Road safety

To make travelling on some major routes safe, Mr Yohuno said personnel of the National Patrol Unit would extend their activities to cover crime-prone routes such as the Tinga-Bamboi-Bole-Wa Highway, Techiman-Tamale highway, Bolgatanga-Navrongo-Paga highway, and the Bolgatanga-Tumu motor road.

Others are the Accra-Aflao highway, Accra-Takoradi highway, Accra-Kumasi highway, Kumasi-Yeji highway, Accra-Kpando-Dambai-Nkwanta highway.

Also, he said the police would continue to man all check points approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and erect more check points, while personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) would be at all intersections to ensure strict compliance with road traffic rules.

The public, he cautioned, must also be cautious of commercial motorbike riders popularly known as Okada riders, as they constitute a security threat to individuals and their families.

Mr Yohuno said community policing activities would be intensified to elicit the support of communities in crime prevention and crime combating.

“Members of the community should feel free to approach the police for any form of assistance and also to provide vital information that would help prevent crime or lead to the arrest of criminals,” he stated.

At the beaches, he said, personnel from the marine police unit would be onshore and at sea to save lives and to undertake normal policing duties to ensure that patrons of beaches do not become targets of criminals.