EDITORIAL - Lower crime rate

Incredulity tends to greet any announcement by the Philippine National Police of a lower crime rate. The disbelief is reinforced by reports of police officials being relieved of their commands for fudging crime statistics.

Foreigners are complaining of a spike in violent crime, with South Korean officials telling the PNP that kidnapping, armed robbery and killings targeting their citizens were starting to turn away Korean tourists and investors. A recent report also said carjacking cases were on the rise. It is not clear how this jibes with the PNP claim of a lower crime incidence.

That the police officials who fudged crime figures were relieved, however, should minimize doubts when the PNP reports a drop of 15.63 percent in the volume of recorded crimes in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2013. The PNP attributed the drop from 410,665 to 346,469 crime incidents nationwide to measures implemented to increase police visibility, intensify the campaign against loose firearms and generally improve law enforcement.

The improvements were of no use to Orlando Navarro, station manager of dwIZ News Radio in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. On his way home early yesterday, he was shot and wounded in the back as he got out of a tricycle. The lone gunman is at large and the case could go the way of many attacks on journalists: unsolved.

The PNP also claimed an increase in crime solution from 26.77 percent in the first half of 2013 to 36.15 percent for the same period this year. The PNP may have to explain what it means when it declares a case solved. A crime is solved when the perpetrators are convicted and sent to prison. Solution does not mean filing charges without making arrests, or indicting fall guys, or filing a case and then causing its dismissal for repeated failure of the police officials involved to appear in court.

It’s good to hear the PNP reporting that crime incidence is down. This should be as good in reality as it is on paper.