Election violence and auto crime require coordinated community and law enforcement responses. The use of motor vehicles and bikes and political party involvement complicate the interaction, using tactics like clandestine support or overt engagement. Effective preventive measures, combining legislation and law enforcement, are essential. The article examines how auto crime prevention initiatives affect electoral violence, highlighting challenges and opportunities for stakeholders to enhance efforts aimed at reducing electoral violence.
Auto Crime Defined:
Auto crime refers to the theft of motor vehicles or the fraudulent loss of money or property through illicit transactions involving the use of motor vehicles. It includes motor vehicle theft, carjacking, and vehicular assault. Motor vehicle theft involves unauthorized theft of vehicles, while carjacking involves forceful takeovers. Vehicular assault, including vehicular homicide or manslaughter, involves the negligent use of a vehicle to cause harm.
Factors Likely to influencing Auto Crime related Electoral Violence.
Economic Conditions:
High unemployment rates, poverty, and other dire economic conditions can lead to prevalent auto crime. Experienced criminals and recidivists are likely to take advantage of poor economic conditions and pounce on the slightest opportunity to indulge in criminal acts during elections to gain favor within the political establishment. Criminals engaged in vehicle and motorbike theft are especially likely to make the most of the slightest opportunity to facilitate electoral violence (Herzog, 2002) to please their paymasters.
Legislative Environment:
Enforcement of stringent laws or lax laws on auto crime, ownership of vehicles used in electoral violence, and inadequate punishment for perpetrators of auto crime induced electoral violence can influence crime prevalence during elections and also reduce voter turnout. Auto crimes, such as carjacking and theft, can sabotage electoral procedures and scare voters.
Conduct of Law Enforcement Agencies:
High rates of vehicle crime can fuel further lawlessness and mistrust of the police, which can be exploited by political figures as justification for violent acts. Auto crime affects election violence by supplying anonymity and enabling quick executions through the use of stolen automobiles. Stakeholders may prevent auto crime and its potential to escalate into electoral violence by conducting themselves in a manner that builds public confidence in their ability to maintain law and order without bias.
Historical background:
Areas notoriously known for electoral violence are likely to be influenced by how law enforcement agencies and the security apparatus reacted to previous occurrences. The lack of punitive measures to serve as deterrence to previous offenders is likely to buoy and inspire the commission of more crimes in volatile areas.
Recommendation
In the lead-up to the upcoming election and beyond, it is imperative for a close collaboration between the major stakeholders, such as the Ghana Police Service, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the National Insurance Commission, Car Dealers and Rental Associations to streamline and regulate all activities that lead to the purchase, importation, clearance, registration, and usage of motor vehicles and motor cycles. It is important to develop a central motor vehicle database that is accessible to law enforcement agencies, especially the Ghana Police Service, and that will contain relevant information about all vehicles and motorbikes that are plying our roads. This will ensure that the police can rapidly zoom in on the ownership and usage of vehicles and motorbikes involved in crimes before, during, and after elections. Because of the connection between auto crime and electoral violence, law enforcement, public policy, and community involvement must work together. Using cutting-edge technologies, improving legislative frameworks, and increasing public awareness are some strategies that can help achieve optimum results. By working together, we can lessen the effect that vehicle crime has on electoral violence while preserving and enhancing our democratic structures. We need to play our individual roles as Ghanaians to build safer, better, and more resilient communities.
Author: Frank Okyere Darko
MSc LSM, MSc Acct & Fin, BSc PSCM, LLB, Dip F Acct., Certified Vehicle Crime Specialist
Police Detective
Email: frank.darko@police.gov.gh
