Cebu crime volume down 38% in first three quarters

CEBU, Philippines - Total crime volume in Cebu City and Cebu Province decreased by 38 percent in January to September of this year compared to the data in the same period in 2013.

Cebu Province recorded a total crime volume of 13,583 for the three quarters this year, lower than last year’s 22,026.

In Cebu City, the total crime volume decreased from 14,859 for the first nine months in 2013 to 9,260 in the same period this year.

Cebu City Police Office Director Senior Superintendent Noli Romana said the crime statistics among police offices in Central Visayas was collated by the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division of the Police Regional Office–7.

He attributed the “accomplishment” of CCPO to the active participation of the community and effective deployment of police personnel.

Romana said this resulted after Mayor Michael Rama addressed the policemen in Cebu City to shape up and gave them three months to do so following the reported increase of crime volume in the city.

Police station commanders of CCPO were also reshuffled to better address the crime problems in the city.

However, Romana said there is an increasing trend in street crimes recorded starting July since traffic-related incidents are already included in the report.

“Hindi talaga reflective or indicative ng peace and order ang traffic-related incidents kasi wala namang criminal intent. But we just abide with the directive from our headquarters,” he said.

The highest street crime rate in Cebu City for the first nine months was recorded at 401 in the month of January while the lowest was recorded at 122 in September.

Romana said they expect higher street crimes in the last quarter of the year given the economic stability of the public in time for the holiday season.

He, however, said the provision of new patrol cars and deployment of additional personnel for Cebu City Police Office will be in preparation for the projected increase of crime volume in 2014’s last three months.

“Hopefully bababa rin,” Romana said.

For other police offices, the total crime volume in Lapu-Lapu City dropped by 20 percent from 4,455 in the three quarters last year to 3,557 this year.

The Mandaue City Police Office registered a two percent decrease from its total crime volume of 5,699 to this year’s 5,561.

Negros Oriental also posted a decline of eight percent in terms of crime volume. They are now down to 7,406 compared to last year’s 8,072.

Siquijor decreased its total crime volume by 32 percent from 366 recorded during the three quarters last year to 249 in the same period this year.

The total crime volume of Bohol Provincial Police Office, on the other hand, increased to 5,646 from January to September 2014.

This is higher by 0.4 percent from the 5,622 crime volume recorded in the first nine months of last year. — (FREEMAN)