ILOILO City – From March 17 to May 10 when Western Visayas was under a community quarantine (first general, then enhanced), crime incidents, most especially “focus crimes”, dropped by 65.92 percent from last year’s during the same period, according to the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
From 628 incidents last year, crimes had a sharp plunge to 214 this year, said PRO-6 spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Gorero.
The “focus crimes” were murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, robbery, theft, and hijacking of vehicles.
Their rates of decline were as follows:
* murder (by 40 percent) – from 70 to 42
* homicide (by 33.33 percent) – from 30 to 20
* physical injuries (by 57.31 percent) – from 164 to 70
* rape (by 75 percent) – from 96 to 24
* robbery (by 74.02 percent) – from 77 to 20
* theft (by 79.51 percent) – from 166 to 34
* hijacking of vehicles (by 84 percent) – from 25 to four
According to Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, regional police director, the community quarantine which limited the movement of people was a big factor in the crime drop.
He also cited the checkpoints that policemen set up.
“We encourage the cooperation of the public. Report any incident to the nearest police station. We urged for community discipline in this time of crisis,” said Pamuspusan.
He was referring to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic that triggered the community quarantine./PN
