ASSESSING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN CRIME CONTROL IN THE WA MUNICIPALITY OF THE UPPER WEST REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

Crime remains a major challenge confronting societies, especially, urban communities which continue to experience influx of people with various criminal orientations. In maintaining safety in communities through crime control, the approaches hitherto in Ghana had been focusing on formal state institutions notably the Ghana Police Service to the neglect of community crime control actors. Apparently, there is a growing concern as to the need for community to participate in crime control to complement that of the institutional level efforts due to the growth of human population, increased in crime levels, inadequate logistics and manpower challenges facing law enforcement agencies. Against this background, this thesis examined how communities contribute to crime control as well as the various challenges hindering their activities using Wa Municipality in the Upper West Region of Ghana as a case study. Using a case study design, the thesis purposely selected 48 community crime control actors together with four key informants from whom primary data were gathered through interviews and focus group discussions. The study revealed that community actors participate in crime control in the study locality in diverse ways through: supply of information on crime and offenders and provision of financial and logistics support to the police, direct arrest of suspected criminals, education on responsible citizenship, and paid security guards (Watchman engagement) which complements the work of the police and improves community sense of safety. Despite the reported contributions, this thesis found that the activities of the local crime control actors were fraught with challenges including the philosophy of "Tijaa-bunyini‟ („we are all one‟), lack of basic working tools, insider trade and breach of trust. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that the public should support especially the neighbourhood watchdog committee with a token of money and other basic tools such as torchlights, batteries, uniforms and boots. More so, Police officers who divulge information confided in them to unauthorized persons by the community actors should be sanctioned appropriately.