Mandaue theft, robbery cases dip

CEBU, Philippines – Cases of theft and robbery in Mandaue City dropped, a week after Police Director General Ricardo Marquez ordered all police officers to conduct foot patrol in their areas of jurisdiction.

Based on the records of the Mandaue City Police Office, theft incidents between July 15 and 21 of this year reached up to 20. According to Chief Inspector Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of MCPO’s Investigation and Detective Management Branch, most of the theft incidents recorded were from Centro Police Station which had eight.

But after Marquez mandated all the police officers to conduct foot patrol, the MCPO only recorded 14 theft incidents between July 22 and 28. The incidents further dipped to eight for the period of July 29 to 31.

“Daghan na mang police ang mag-standby sa Centro… naa man daghan ang mga bata ang mangawat, ilaron pa gani na’ng mga taxi,” Bastes said.

The MCPO also recorded four robbery incidents from July 15 to 21. The figure slightly increased to six incidents a week after Marquez issued his order.

However, the robbery incidents went down to only two during the last three days of July.

Bastes said that police officers focus on areas that have higher crime incidents.

“Kon asa concentrated ang crimes, adto ang mga police,” Bastes said.

Bastes said that most of the perpetrators of robbery are minors.

He added that the time the robbery was committed also adds to their concerns as perpetrators usually commit the crime early in the morning.

“Ang problema kay wa’y suspek kay di ta kabantay kay kaadlawon. Mao na usa nato ka problema sa robbery, lungkab,” Bastes said.

He said they are looking for measures to have police officers patrol during the wee hours of the night.

Bastes also urged police station commanders to think of possible interventions to curb the crimes in Mandaue.