IN FIRST QUARTER: City police report 36%  drop in crime volume

The number of crime incidents in the city fell by almost 36 percent through the first quarter this year as compared to the same period last year, said the Cebu City Police Office in its crime statistics report released recently.

The CCPO report showed that the crime volume, from January to March this year, was 660 against 1,030 in last year’s similar period. This means a 35.92 percent decline, said city police director Patrocinio Comendador.

Crime volume consists of index crimes and non-index crimes, both of which registered decrease in numbers also.

Index crime volume dropped in the same quarter by 42.7 percent, from 719 last year to 412 this year, while non-index crime volume fell by 20.26 percent, or from 311 last year to only 248 this year.

Under index crimes, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft and rape each posted decline in volume with theft registering the biggest drop of 54.26 percent (from 411 to 188), followed by robbery with 44.7 percent (from 132 to 73.

The only crime that increased in volume is murder, which rose from 13 to 19 or an increase of 46.15 percent.

Comendador said that the possible cause for the increase in murder cases in the city have been the persistent war among street gangs, which fell into a hiatus through the first quarter last year.

Non-index crimes, consisting of special cases on drugs and gambling, have also declined but with only by 20.26 percent, the police report showed.

The report also boasted an 18.98 percent increase in crime solution efficiency by the CCPO, or from 68.64 percent last year to 81.67 percent this year.

Comendador however refused to base the performance of the CCPO policemen on the statistics. He said that what really matters will be the satisfaction of the public on the police force, seeing the latter’s efficiency in solving crimes.  — Queenie Chariz Dayanan, CNU-intern/RAE