City to work with schools in gathering crime data

Following the robbery and killing of graduating nursing student Ruby Jade Ruba, the Police Coordinating Advisory Council is now working closely with schools to get data on who among the students have fell victims to robbery and snatching.

PCAC chairman and Vice Mayor Michael Rama said that the data they could get from schools would be very useful since it would be used as one of the grounds for the deployment of the police and tanods in the barangays.

He explained that the data will enable them to identify what crimes are committed, and the time and areas where they happened.

The vice mayor said that this is in preparation for the opening of the classes in June so the students would be protected from the criminal elements.

"I am hoping that I can already get the data from the schools for the PCAC. The data will also identify who are the student victims who reported to the police," Rama said.

Through this, he added that they will be able to identify what are the crime-prone areas so they would be able to put proactive measures to prevent the same crimes from happening again.

Aside from working with schools, PCAC will also be checking the police blotters to compare which of the crimes were reported to the police.

He said that checking the police blotters and comparing them with the data they get from schools will also enable them to know if students still have trust in the police and the reasons why they do not report the crime.

"Crimes will always be around. What is important is that we are doing our best to prevent it," the vice mayor said.

Rama said that they are expecting robberies to go up in June because it is the opening of classes and students are expected to carry large amount of money with them for their tuition fees.

The city earlier announced that aside from the police, tanod will also be deployed in the barangays, especially in areas where crimes are often committed. Areas without streetlights or with busted lamps would also be lighted.

Ruba, 20, a graduating nursing student of the Cebu Doctor's University, was robbed of her cell phone and was killed shortly along Gov. Roa Street in barangay Capitol Site before midnight of March 6.

Reports said that at the time of the incident, the area was dark because the lamps there are busted and there was no police or barangay tanod patrolling there. – Wenna A. Berondo/LPM