Community police will not be deployed at polling stations.

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The Eastern Regional Police Commander, Mr George Anko-Bil, said on Wednesday that Community Police will not be deployed at polling stations during the December general election following apprehensions by some political parties in the region.

He said those categories of quasi-security personnel are not “strictly part of the security apparatus” as laid down by the constitution and as such, they would have no direct role to play during the election.

Mr Anko-Bil was responding to concerns raised by Mr Julius Debrah, Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), during the maiden meeting of the Regional Election Task Force at Koforidua.

Mr Debrah had asked the Regional Police Command whether the Community Police would have any role to play on Election Day.

He said political parties should have faith in genuineness of the police to dispatch their duty impartially according to dictates of the constitution.

“We will never, never allow passion to overtake us in the region”, he said adding that his command would do its job dispassionately with the outmost sense of the burden imposed on it by the state.

He appealed to political parties and other stakeholders to help the security agencies ensure that the many flashpoint areas in the region are prevented from escalating by means of confidence building measures.

“It would also be the duty of the task force to build confidence of the electorate and in the electoral process so as to clear unnecessary suspicious and doubts in the process”, said Mr Anko-Bil.