BACOLOD City – The number of crimes in this city went down by 34.59 percent from January to November this year, according to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
BCPO’s data showed that in the first 11 months this year, 1,715 crimes were recorded.
This figure is lower by 907 incidents from last year’s 2,622.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that there is indeed a substantial decrease in the city’s cri me volume.
“This is practically a 35-percent decrease, which is more than one-third of the crimes last year,” the mayor added.
As of November 2019, index crimes or crimes against persons and property have dropped by 44.03 percent or 258 incidents – from 596 last year to only 328 this year.
The police also refer to index crimes as the eight focus crimes, which include murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motorcycle theft.
A significant decrease was noted in robbery incidents, which went down by 47.69 percent – from 130 last year to only 68 incidents in 2019 – as well in theft cases, which dropped by 48.97 percent – from 243 in 2018 to only 124 incidents this year.
Rape cases also decreased by 32.31 percent – from 65 to 44.
This year, only five motorcycle theft incidents were reported from the previous year’s 16, which is lower by 68.75 percent.
However, murder incidents increased by 22.73 percent – from 22 to 27 – along with homicide, which rose 33.3 percent – from 12 to nine, and carnapping, with two incidents this year, from only one in 2018, or an increase of 100 percent.
On average, Bacolod’s monthly index crime rate decreased by 44.03 percent – from 9.01 incidents last year to only 5.04 this year.
Moreover, non-index crimes, which include reckless imprudence to resulting in homicide, physical injuries and damage to property, and violations of special laws, among others, were down by 31.88 percent or 649 incidents – from 2,036 in 2018 to 1,387 in 2019.
Lower crime volume can be attributed to sustained operations against prevalent crimes as well as to increase awareness of Bacolod residents on crime prevention.
“Compared to other places, we are still, I believe, comparatively peaceful, but isolated cases can happen,” Leonardia said. (With a report from PNA/PN)
