VIOLENT CRIME AND SECURITY CHALLENGES: ‘POLICE-PUBLIC BLAME GAME’ IN GHANA

Abstract

Violent crime such as robbery, assault, murder, sexual and domestic violence, undermine the economic and social rights of the people and distorts society’s attempts to achieve a decent and dignified life for all. To reverse the situation, in Ghana, the police have been charged with the primary responsibility of maintaining domestic security. The emerging development in the country, however, has been the blame game between the police and the public in respect of the perceived failure in security governance for the citizenry. This study examined this blame game using Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of Savannah Region as a case study. To be able to achieve the intended objective, 102 respondents were selected through both probability and non-probability sampling techniques in a convergent sequential mixed method design. Expert administered questionnaire and interviews were employed as the main methods of data collection. The study found that non-prosecution of criminals, bribery and corruption, police-criminal relationship, inadequate logistics and police personnel and stakeholders’ interference in security management, cumulatively were responsible for the low level of security administration in the study area. The study concluded that both the police and the public are responsible for the defective security architecture in the study community. Since crime impacts multiple facets of society in ways that the police and government may not be aware of until those interests are taken into consideration during project development and implementation, the study recommends a multi-sector collaboration involving the government, the police and the public to improve security governance in the area.
 Keywords: Crime, Violence, Security, Police, Citizenry, Peace Architecture.