West Africa launches regional police info system to fight organized crime

The West African Police Information System (WAPIS) has been inaugurated in Ghana's capital, Accra, to fight organized crime and terrorism in the sub-region.

Experts believe one of the main challenges in fighting transnational organized criminality is inaccurate statistics and data on reported occurrences.

The initiative is therefore aimed at creating a common police-information system across West Africa to share criminal information on a timely basis.

It will also ensure greater law enforcement cooperation within the region and the rest of the world in fighting organized crime and terrorism.

The European Union is providing funding to the International Criminal Police Organization for the development and implementation of the initiative for member-countries within the region and Mauritania.

Addressing the media, the Minister for the Interior, Mark Owen Woyongo, said the center stemmed from the sub-regional bloc's concern over the spate of transnational crimes and terrorism affecting the area.

"WAPIS will enable police officers in west African countries to access critical police information from their national criminal databases, thus improving the identification of criminals and supporting ongoing investigations," he said.

Woyongo said his ministry had signed a contract with Ahui Communications Services Limited, a subsidiary of China Communications Services International, to carry out a feasibility study on the introduction of CCTV cameras on roads in Ghana at no cost to the government.

He said the project would help the police maintain discipline on the roads and also reduce crime. Enditem