THE Philippine National Police yesterday called anew on each and every Filipino to avoid giving criminals any opportunity to victimize them amid concerns that majority of the public have become complacent after the government eased quarantine restrictions to help fight the COVID-19 virus.
“Every criminal out there in the streets are just waiting for the right opportunity to strike so let’s not give them that chance whenever we are in the confines of our homes or are on our way to our workplaces and other destinations,” said PNP spokesman, Colonel Ysmael S. Yu.
Yu said that PNP chief, General Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan has particularly given emphasis to the need for enhanced partnership between the citizenry, the police and local government units specifically barangays to help address criminality.
He added that during the Enhanced Community Quarantine, crime went down simply because majority of Filipinos chose to stay at home, thus preventing criminals like thieves from doing their illegal activities knowing that almost every house in the country is fully guarded.
Official PNP crime statistics showed there was a decrease in focus crimes and index crimes from January to September this year. Countrywide, Luzon posted the highest crime incidents recording 177,473 cases which comprise 63 percent of the total crime incidents nationwide during the period.
The National Capital Region recorded the highest number of total crime incidents recorded in Luzon with 71,819 or 40.47 percent of the total nationwide.
On the other hand, the Central Visayas police recorded the highest crime volume in Visayas region with 35,159 or 61.24 percent of the total incidents in the region while the Southern Mindanao police recorded the highest in Mindanao with 12,697 or 26.09 percent of the total crime volume in the region registered during the period.
8 Out of 10 crimes solved so far this year
Roughly eight out of ten crime incidents were solved in the Philippines over the past nine months of the year, Cascolan announced yesterday citing latest crime data from the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management.
The PNP chief said that a DIDM crime analysis showed that 79.6 percent of crime incidents from January to September 2020 were declared as solved based on parameters for crime solution prescribed by the National Police Commission.
These are cases where the perpetrator has been identified and arrested and a case has been filed for prosecution of the offender.
The Crime Solution Efficiency (CSE) rating of 79.6 percent posted by the PNP over the past three quarters marked a 3.28 percent improvement from the 76.36 percent CSE posted over the same nine-month period in 2019, said PNP spokesman, Colonel Ysmael S. Yu.
Crime Clearance Efficiency (CCE), meanwhile, remained high at 94.9 percent in 2020, from 91.62 percent in 2019.
On the other hand, total crime incidents generally went down in January to September this year by 23.90 percent or 89,072 incidents, from 372,621 incidents recorded during the same nine-month period in 2019 down to only 283,549 this year.
Yu said these nine-month data reflects a downward trend that indicates much improved peace and order situation towards the remaining months of year 2020.
Overall, it is notable that peace and order index crimes went down by 21,623 or 10.79 percent from 200,374 in Jan-Sep 2019 to only 178,751 this year, Yu said.
This peace and order index is made up largely of 147,976 non-indez crimes comprising 82.78 percent and 30,775 or 17.22 percent index crimes comprising both focus crimes of murder, homicide, physical injury, theft , robbery, rape, carnappong of motor vehicles and carnapping of motorcycles; and special complex crimes of obvery with homicide, robbery with rape, robbery with serious physicsl injury, robbery with arson, rape wit h homicide, kidnapping with homicide, kidnapping with rape and arson with homicide, the PNP spokesperson said.
He also clarified that all these data were collated from police blotters of 17 police regional offices across the country to come up with a comprehensive and accurate picture of the nationwide crime environment.
Citing the same crime data, Yu said all focus crime types posted double-digit decreases with Theft and Robbery posting the biggest decline at 51.03 percent and 47.52 percent, respectively,
Focus crimes generally decreased nationwide: in Luzon by 38.13 percent in Visayas by 47.58 percent; and in Mindanao by 37.49 percent, he added.
Cascolan earlier underscored the major role being played by each and every Filipino family in the country’s war on drugs and terror.
Amid his order for his men to continue a much aggressive campaign against illegal drug trafficking and abuse and terrorism, the top cop emphasized the big role of the Filipino family in helping the police identify and arrest so-called ‘high-value targets’ in their neighborhood, said Yu.
Yu explained that Filipino families who are one with the government in its war on drugs and terror only needs to furnish the police with valuable information regarding the presence of illegal drug traffickers and suspected terror personalities in their communities.
The PNP spokesperson said that Filipino parents and their family members can serve as ‘eyes and ears’ of the police by simply reporting illegal activities and suspicious movements of persons in their neighborhood to police hotlines and the official PNP social media platforms.
“We assure the public that all information will be kept confidential and that their identities will be kept in utmost secrecy. Let’s all bear in our minds that this is the fight of the entire country, not only your police force,” said Yu.
