The Philippine National Police said the crime rate has significantly dropped in the opening month of the year.
According to PNP Spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. said crime records culled by the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) showed a sharp decline in index crime cases recorded in January 2012.
Index crime incidents dipped 20.01% from the 14,227 cases in January 2011 to 11,379 cases in January 2012.
Cruz explained that index crime cases are valid indicators of the prevailing crime situation. Index crimes include crime against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injuries and rape; and crime against property such as robbery, theft, carnapping and cattle rustling.
The crime trend in January 2012 showed similar double-digit decline in crime against persons and crime against property compared with the previous year’s record for the same month.
Cruz said if the January crime trend is an indication of things to come in the months ahead, then we can certainly look forward to an improved peace and order situation towards the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, the PNP’s Crime Solution Efficiency in January 2012 rose 28.02% indicating better police performance in solving crime cases.
Cruz said that even with this noteworthy crime solution record, the PNP leadership believes that police operations must be focused more on crime prevention mainly thru increased police visibility and patrol operations.
Cruz added that contrary to opinionated perceptions of a crime wave sweeping the country as highlighted by some sensationalized reports of isolated incidents of heinous crime–factual and verifiable records in the form of crime statistics say otherwise.
“Crime is not a runaway problem because the criminal justice system is fully functional and certainty of punishment has been fully established as an effective deterrent to crime,” Cruz said.
