The Western Regional Police
Command together with the Joint Operation Centre had deployed about
4200 security personnel to various parts of the region ahead of the
December 7 polls.
Assistant Superintendent of Police
(ASP) Kofi Asare, Western
Regional Deputy Police Commander, said they comprise of all
security agencies to ensure effective monitoring and control
operations during the elections.
He said the Command had also set up
operational maps, incident, deployment, and result chart and
provided communication equipment including three television sets
and five radio sets to monitor the elections.
ASP Asare was briefing the Regional
Inter-Party Dialogue Committee members on the security preparations
for elections 2012 in the Region.
He said that the Command would
provide one security personnel at each of the 2,619 polling
stations but electoral areas considered as flash points would have
two personnel.
ASP Asare said 130 personnel would
be deployed to the 26 collation centres and five personnel, including four armed
men, would be at each collation centre and 10 at the regional collation
centre and the score board
ground.
ASP Asare said that the region had
identified 32 strategic locations for major rapid deployment force,
which would require 450 personnel.
He said force would be commanded by a senior police
officer at each location to serve as a quick reaction
team.
ASP Asare lauded the National
Security for providing the Regional Police Command with additional
gadgets, and said the security agencies were on top of their job,
and they would work to maintain peace.
The security personnel expressed
worry that some media outlets, particularly, radio stations, act as
police offices and receive complainants or rumours from the
public.
They advocated that party billboards
and posters must also be removed from polling stations, and
stressed the need for voters to leave the polling station after
voting.
Another concerned raised was the
possibility of some people using mobile phones to take picture of
voting.
