Fraud prevention expert and security consultant Richard Kumadoe says intelligence-led policing is increasingly critical to preventing organised criminal groups from attacking financial institutions before they strike.

His comments follow a police operation in Labone, Accra, in which two suspected robbers were shot dead and another arrested after police said they intercepted a planned attack on three banks — GCB Bank, Ecobank andZenith Bank.

Kumadoe said the police’s description of the operation as intelligence-led suggested that investigators may have had information about the suspects, their movements, vehicles, methods of operation or intended area of activity before the alleged attack.

“If you hear intelligence, then these are the premises intelligence can lead law enforcement officers, particularly frontliners like the police, in such an instance,” he said on theAsaase Breakfast Show on Friday (14 August).

He said intelligence could reach law enforcement days, weeks or even months before a planned operation, allowing officers to identify suspects and monitor their movements.

According to Kumadoe, police could deploy undercover personnel, work with people within targeted institutions or receive information from residents and businesses operating in the vicinity of a potential crime.

He cautioned, however, that the nature of an intervention would depend on the quality and reliability of the intelligence available to law enforcement.

Police could seek to distract or disrupt a criminal operation, prevent it altogether or confront suspects directly, he said.

“Sometimes they can distract them. Sometimes they can disrupt their operation. And sometimes they can kill it by eliminating the core element or the core architects of the crime,” Kumadoe said.

He said intelligence-led policing should also be supported by cooperation between law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and members of the public.

Kumadoe, who described himself as a fraud prevention expert and security consultant, said he had worked in banking and had conducted financial and security risk assessments for financial institutions across Ghana.

He said the changing nature of crime meant police could no longer rely solely on responding to incidents after they occurred.

“Going forward, the crimes are involving, technology is involving, technicality from the side of the criminals and the police are also involving,” he said.

He called for stronger information and intelligence sharing between frontline law enforcement agencies, banks, businesses and citizens.

Kumadoe also warned that intercepting suspects in one operation should not necessarily be interpreted as dismantling an entire criminal network.

“It is in segments,” he said, arguing that criminal groups could have wider networks involving people responsible for reconnaissance, logistics, transportation, weapons or other support functions.

He said law enforcement agencies could use forensic evidence, DNA, criminal psychology and analysis of modus operandi to establish links between suspects and previous crimes.

The Labone operation, he said, therefore underscored the need for sustained intelligence gathering rather than treating each robbery attempt as an isolated incident.

“Police do, by the risk assessment, know which areas are high-risk areas,” he said, adding that the changing commercial and demographic profile of neighbourhoods could also affect how law enforcement assesses crime risks.

Kumadoe said businesses operating in areas considered to have high crime intensity should consequently maintain closer security cooperation with the police and continuously reassess their vulnerabilities.