WV's crime volume down by 57.18% in 2011

ILOILO CITY, Philippines  — The Police Regional Office (PRO) VI reported recently that last year’s crime volume in Western Visayas went down considerably by 57.18 percent.

Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Jr., Police Regional Office-6 director, said that from 18,635 crime incidents in 2010, the number dropped to only 8,605 in 2011.

With this decline came the reduction of index crimes or crimes against persons and properties. From 13,165 index crimes in 2010, it went down to only 6,089 in 2011, or a decrease of 53.75 percent.

Thievery, which was pegged at 6,156 cases, dramatically decreased to only 2,098, while robbery, from 1,958 cases, went down to only 916 with 315 suspects arrested.

Querol said Iloilo City recorded the highest decrease in index crimes with 1,061 last year from 3,405 in 2010.

The average monthly crime rate also decreased from 16.10 percent to only 7.45 percent, while the crime solution efficiency rose from 30 percent in 2010 to 41 percent last year.

Querol said the decrease in crime incidents could be attributed to several measures carried out by the police force, from the regional to the municipal level.

First was the enforcement of the revitalized police integrated patrol system (PIPS), such as checkpoints, mobile and foot patrols, and raids and searches against known criminals. “These led to the dismantling of several shabu dens and the arrest of pushers,” Querol said.

Second was the creation of MASCO or the Motorized Anti-Street Crime Operations teams in the entire region to counteract riding-in-tandem criminals. This resulted in a drop of this type of incidents from 110 in 2010 to only 62 in 2011, he said.

Third was the launching of the Patrolya ng Pulis program to increase police visibility in the region to deter crimes.

Fourth was the creation of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs) all over the region. To date, there are already 28,158 BPATs members in 1,954 barangays all over the region, and 16,704 of them have undergone training. “By 2012, all barangays would be filled up with BPATs,” Querol said.

Fifth was the implementation of crisis management committees (CMCs) in all levels, and sixth was the creation of the Joint Police Security Coordinating Council (JPSCC) to address internal security operations against communist rebels.

Finally, the seventh measure was the intensified campaign against wanted persons and loose firearms, which Querol said was among the factors in the decrease of crimes in the region.

For 2011, PRO-6 records showed that 742 firearms were recovered from 503 suspects, and 970 wanted persons were arrested. (FREEMAN)