Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wa West Constituency and a retired Superintendent of Police, Peter Lanchene Toobu has chastised Ghanaians for concentrating on reaching out for their smartphones first in cases of life and death rather than helping victims.
According to him, this culture has led to the loss of lives and given room to most criminals to escape arrest and prosecution.
Reacting to the response of onlookers during the robbery and shooting of a police officer escorting a bullion van recently, Peter Lanchene Toobu said, “We are now plagued with social media madness as a people. When someone suffers misfortune or is shot in broad daylight, no one thinks of saving the victims or help capture the culprits. But everyone present instinctively pull out their phones and starts filming so they can share with others.”
“This is what we call social media madness,” he told Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.
To him, the citizenry should do well to contribute to providing some form of support to the police in fighting crime. “Even if citizens claim the police is incompetent, they should be kind enough to the police and help them out as the police always put themselves in harm’s way for the safety of citizens.”
Superintendent Peter Lanchene Toobu (Rtd) advised that until political interference is removed from the running of the police service, “Police Officers will always be exposed to danger and preventable death.”
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On June 14, a police officer, Emmanuel Osei, and a hawker, Afua Badu, were attacked by a group of armed robbers who trailed a bullion van in a taxi and on a motorbike and upon arrival at a less crowded location, fired indiscriminately, killing them instantly.
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The driver of the vehicle sustained severe injuries and was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for treatment. According to the doctors, the driver is responding to treatment.
The Police has however placed a Ghc20,000 bounty on the killers.
