PRO8: Crime up by 20 percent

By RPCRD, Police Regional Office 8
September 24, 2014

CAMP RUPERTO K KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte – Crime incidents increased by 20 percent after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) ravaged Eastern Visayas specifically Tacloban.

PCSupt. Henry P. Losañes, Regional Director said, at that time all systems were down. There was no power, no water, nothing. People were desperate. They were looting.

Hence, with this report there was a rise in the number of crimes committed in EV for year 2013. This means that from January to December 2013, a marked increase in number of crimes committed both in index and non-index crimes was at 15,316 compared to year 2012 which was at 4,420 or 22% increased.

Another reason was the fact that the crime reports as mandated by PNP National Headquarters to include those that were committed at the barangay level. This is said to be purposely done to have a better picture of our communities in the whole Region 8.

To note, Index Crimes involved crimes against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injury, rape and against property to include robbery, theft, carnapping/carjacking and cattle rustling. Non-index crimes, on the other hand, are violations of special laws such as illegal logging or local ordinances.

Data show that there was a fluctuating movement on the average monthly crime rate from year 2009 to year 2014. The Average Monthly Crime Rate for year 2009 was at 57.63 per 4,222,000 population, then it decreased the following year to 10.35 at 4,480,000 people, but jumped to 16.08 in 2011 at 3,915,000 population; then lowered again at 9.00 in 2012 at 4,091,000 people; then increased at 30.86 in 2013 at 4,140,000 and at 50.94 in 2014 at 4,137,000.

Based on the statistics of non index crimes from year 2009 to 2014 there was an increased of crime incidents from 2,282 to 2,786 respectively. While for incidents categorized as index crimes it decreases as shown below:

Total Index Crime Against Persons. Murder: 2009 - 622; 2010 - 429; 2011 - 394; 2012 - 427; 2013 - 483; 2014 - 319.

Physical Injury: 2009 - 7,045; 2010 - 107; 2011 - 1644; 2012 - 914; 2013 - 4114; 2014 - 4093.

Against Property. Robbery: 2009 - 1243; 2010 - 496; 2011 - 476; 2012 - 332; 2013 - 644; 2014 - 531.

Non-Index Crimes. Violation of Special Laws: 2009 - 2282; 2010 - 795; 2011 - 1444; 2012 - 1157; 2013 - 2120; 2014 - 2786.

Meanwhile, PCSupt. Losañes emphasizes that there are many ways of curbing, if not totally eliminating crime. And that is to continuously increase police presence and visibility especially in crime hot spots.

Further, with the cooperation of local government units and civil society, crime can also be eliminated through the implementation of community prevention by way of developing neighborhood watch programs. So with this, the Total Crime Cleared for year 2014 was 4,186 and the Total Crime Solved was 3,821. Compared to 2013 which was at 5,170 and 3,157 respectively, he added.