Community cooperation one of factors in crime prevention

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the significant decrease in the incidence of crimes in the city, the police said yesterday that there are still a lot of things that should be done to prevent, if not totally eradicate the crimes in the city.

During the meeting of the Police Coordinating Advisory Council, Cebu City Police Office director Patrocinio Comendador presented their Anti-Criminality Action Plan for 2009, which will provide guidelines and the over-all objectives in addressing criminality and problems related to peace and order of the city.  

Commendador said the action plan covers fraternity/gang wars, human trafficking and traffic congestion. It is centered on the identification of the people involved in those crimes and intends to strengthen community participation among the local officials as well as the people because most crimes happen in the community.

In response to high rate of street crimes such as robberies, thieveries, shooting and stabbing, Commendador said they have included in their action plan the identification and profiling of the possible and identified suspects. It also intends to enhance deployment night watch teams to reduce such crimes another aspect that it wants to strengthen is the community awareness and information dissemination.

From January to December of 2008, the statistics show that there are a total of 2, 687 crimes in the city, 1,672 of which fall under index crimes and 1,105 non-index crimes. The data presented show a drop of 54 percent in the five-year comparison compared to the peak which is in the year 2004.

Of the 1, 672 index crimes, 716 are thefts, 420 are physical injuries, 309 are robberies, 94 rape cases, 72 murder and 71 homicide.

The city government and stakeholders identify the needs of the people on the concerns on peace and order in the annual strategic planning like protection from robberies and thieveries, illegal drugs, fraternity/ gang wars, traffic and human trafficking.

The anti-criminality action plan will utilize the SARA model or the Scanning of the over-all environment, Analysis of the mission given and providing guidelines, Responding to the plan by selecting appropriate course of action/s and (Re)Analyzing the outcome of the plan and make proper adjustments.

To make the police more effective in their battle against crime, Comendador said they have strengthened their intelligence and identification of crime prone areas as well as the mobilizations of police units.

The action plan also intends to have the removal and reduction of the opportunities to commit crime that would be done through the conduct of checkpoints, saturation drives, site surveys and inspection as well as raids. — Crischellyn Abayon and Queenie Estrella Kuebler, UP Cebu MassCom Interns/WAB   (THE FREEMAN)