A lecturer and criminologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Jones Opoku-Ware, has commended the Ghana Police Service for their breakthrough in arresting two suspects linked to the Wa killings, describing it as a significant step in crime detection.
Dr. Opoku-Ware said the arrest marks an important milestone, considering how difficult it is to identify serial killers due to their complex patterns of operation.
“If we look at the consistency and the popularity of these kinds of operations, let me be very honest: it is very difficult for you to identify.
“That is why a lot of times, they are able to have these opportunities to do these kinds of activities over a long period of time before finally the police is able to pick up the trail and get to them,” he explained.
He further praised the Ghana Police for acting swiftly compared to similar cases in other parts of the world.
“Actually I want to even congratulate the police because from what I know, if you look at the period of his operations, that’s from 2021 and now that is basically like five years.
“In fact, throughout history we have had serial killers operate more than 10, 15 years before the police are able to get to their heels,” he speaking in an interview with Joy News.
Dr. Opoku-Ware also highlighted why tracking such criminals poses a challenge. According to him, serial killers tend to operate in ways that make it difficult to establish clear patterns.
“If you look at the profiling of serial killers, their activities are very temporal and unrelated and geographically spread.
“They have something we call a ‘cooling-off period’, sometimes they strike and move to another place, relax for some time and then strike and move to another place and strike,” he said.
The criminologist emphasized that such behavioral patterns explain why many of these offenders “walk in plain sight” within communities without immediate suspicion, making it hard for law enforcement to profile and apprehend them early.
