Police Urged to Use Creative Arts to Educate Public on Kidnappings

Federation Of Concerned Arts Professionals (FOCAP) has urged the police to use the creative arts in educating the public to reduce child kidnapping and other social vices.

The federation in a statement said the police should collaborate with stakeholders in the entertainment sector to put out advertisements on both television and radio on child kidnapping.

FOCAP suggested, “What to do as a parent when your child is going to school or closes from school, what we should be doing during night outings and parental guidance on how our children use the internet,” as some of the questions that should be addressed in the campaign.

FOCAP is a pressure group that plays a watchdog role of providing information about efforts by various Entertainment sectors to influence public policy.

Their press statement comes after three girls were kidnapped in Takoradi in 2018 and some other people murdered in cold blood in January 2019.

Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, Ruth Love Quayeson, 18 and Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, 15, were kidnapped on August 17, December 4 and December 21 of 2018 respectively.

The police, however, have been facing the backlash from the general public in response to their attitude to rescuing the girls.

Read more: Unresolved kidnappings: Family, IMANI, lawyer doubt police commitment

Although they have in custody one of the kidnappers, the Western Regional Police Commander told Joy News’ Evans Mensah the suspect has refused to disclose the whereabouts of the young girls regardless of the efforts they put in to extract that information.

Read more: Kidnapped girls: Police ‘give up’ on suspect as ‘he has refused to talk’

Some parents of the victims have given up hope that their girls are still alive despite the assurance from the police and the Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee on the police closing in on the kidnappings .

Also, the recent murders of investigative journalist Ahmed Suale [shot thrice on the chest, in the street] and Public Affairs Manager of Tema Port, Josephine Asante, [stabbed at her home] , have piled pressure on the police to improve on their ways in resolving cases.

FOCAP called on the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to be proactive and reach out to the police to begin the campaign in educating the general public.

“FOCAP believes when the police have collaborations with the Creative Arts to these educational campaigns in our various languages on TV and radio, it will go a long way to help curb some of these cases in future,” they added.

---Myjoyonline