ILOILO City – Iloilo province recorded a crime drop of 43.94 percent in a month.
Thirty-seven cases of eight “focus crimes” were recorded from March 4 to April 3 – 43.94 percent lower than the 66 incidents recorded in the same period last year, data from the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) showed.
Also called index crimes, focus crimes are crimes considered serious in nature and occurring with sufficient frequency and regularity that they are considered index to the crime situation in a given area.
The eight focus crimes are robbery, theft, homicide, murder, carnapping of vehicles, carnapping of motorcycles, rape, and physical injury.
Police Colonel Ronaldo Palomo, IPPO director, cited police presence on the streets and non-stop conduct of checkpoints as among the reasons for the decline in crimes.
“We deployed all our available personnel as well as our intelligence officers to the streets. Our checkpoints also helped us,” Palomo told Panay News.
Also, from March 4 to 31, the IPPO conducted 26 anti-drug operations that resulted to the arrest of 30 drug suspects and seizure of 406.847 grams of shabu valued at P2,766,557.
The provincial police arrested 185 fugitives, 31 of whom belonged to the top 10 most wanted persons in the municipal, provincial and regional levels.
Moreover, 17 individuals were caught for illegal possession of firearms and 18 unlicensed guns were confiscated through search warrants and checkpoints. Seventy-one firearms were surrendered through the Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang.
In the campaign against illegal fishing, 115 fishermen were apprehended in 47 operations.
“The police chiefs really delivered hard in crime prevention as shown in the report from the Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Unit. We vow to continue our campaign against illegal activities to sustain the peace and order in the province,” Palomo added./PN
