Banks and private security companies must strengthen their security systems and improve intelligence-sharing with the police to prevent armed robberies, criminologist and KNUST lecturer Dr Jones Opoku-Ware has said.

His comments follow the police interception of an alleged robbery operation in Labone, Accra, where two suspected robbers were killed and another was arrested.

Dr Opoku-Ware said banks could not rely solely on the police to protect their facilities and should take greater responsibility for identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities.

He questioned whether some private security personnel deployed at financial institutions had the capacity and equipment required to respond effectively to armed attacks.

“The question is, do they have the competence to really protect those places?” he asked on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday (14 August).

He said criminals were more likely to attack locations where they perceived security to be weak.

“If there is a lack of protection, the criminal will strike because they know that the place has relaxed protection,” he said.

The criminologist also warned that criminal groups could obtain sensitive information from people working within financial institutions.

He said some bank employees could potentially provide criminals with information about security arrangements, cash movements and other operational details needed to plan robberies.

“There’s a lot of fraud that goes on within the bank. Certain bank officials are very well connected to criminals and actually these criminals get a lot of information within the bank,” he said.

Dr Opoku-Ware therefore called for stronger intelligence-sharing between banks, private security providers and the police.

He also urged financial institutions to conduct thorough background checks before employing staff, particularly workers who have access to sensitive information or security-related functions.

“If you are employing somebody to come and be a custodian of people’s property, logically, you have to make sure that the proper background profile and background check is done,” he said.

He said banks should also invest in stronger security systems that could detect suspicious activity and prevent criminals from exploiting weaknesses.

Dr Opoku-Ware further advocated greater investment in predictive policing, digital surveillance and data analysis to complement traditional police patrols and human intelligence.

He acknowledged that such systems were expensive and required significant infrastructure but said Ghana could gradually build the capacity needed to use technology to identify crime patterns and potential threats.

He cautioned, however, that security cameras alone do not necessarily prevent crime.

“Cameras themselves don’t prevent crime. They actually serve as a teller,” he said, arguing that surveillance systems should increasingly be integrated with intelligent analytical tools capable of helping security agencies detect threats before attacks occur.