ILOILO City – Crimes committed by motorcycle-riding suspects (MRS) across Western Visayas dropped by 49.2 percent in the first eight months this year compared to the previous year, data from the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division showed.
Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson, said MRS-related crimes from January to August 2020 went down to 64 from 126 cases recorded last year in the same period.
The eight focused crimes, according to Malong, were murder, homicide, physical injuries, robbery, carnapping, theft rape, and motornapping.
There were no cases of homicide and and carnapping recorded this, she said.
Murder cases, meanwhile, went down from 40 last year to only 27 this year.
Physical injuries also dropped from 28 to 16; robbery from 30 to 10; motornapping from seven to two; and theft from 15 to 6. Rape cases still stood at three.
Malong attributed the drop in MRS –related crimes to enhanced police operations and intensified checkpoint and patrol operations since the start of quarantine period.
According to Malong, suspects used motorcycles in crimes because of these vehicles’ maneuverability; this allowed them to easily escape the crime scene.
The PRO-6 once again emphasized the importance of the general public’s cooperation and the help of the media in promoting crime prevention and reduction of crime incidents.
For his part, PRO-6 director Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan reminded all police units in Region 6 to strictly implement the enhanced managing police operations – now the police force’s anti-crime strategy.
“To prevent crimes, all patrol units and the information operations must be aligned to the result of crime analysis which is being done weekly. We continuously remind the public to actively participate in crime prevention efforts of the police by feeding information on whereabouts of suspicious activities or personalities,” said Pamuspusan./PN
