BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) reported a drop in crime incidents this year .
Data from NOCPPO showed that from January 1 to November 25, total crime incidents in the province dropped to 3,525, or 12.81 percent lower than the 4,043 incidents listed in the same period of last year.
NOCPPO also said crimes listed under the Peace and Order Indicator (POI) and Public Safety Indicator (PSI) have decreased.
The POI comprises the totality of index and non-index crimes while the PSI categorizes incidents and culpable felonies that reflect the public safety situation of a particular community.
The POI dropped to 2,728, or 7.34 percent lower than the 2,944 incidents last year.
Under POI are the eight focus crimes – murder, homicide, rape, physical injury, robbery, theft, carnapping of vehicles, and carnapping of motorcycles – that declined by 37.65 percent compared to last year’s number.
Colonel Rainerio De Chavez, director of NOCPPO, explained that the decrease in the POI was attributed to the religious conduct of enhanced managing police operations, police integrated patrol system, intensified police visibility, checkpoint operations, law enforcement operations, and the implementation of local ordinances.
Among these initiatives, he said, are Oplan Dasig, formulation of specific action plans and Armas Baylo Bugas.
Meanwhile, the PSI decreased by 27.48 percent for the past 11 months.
NOCPPO said it has recorded a decrease in the number of vehicular accidents under the PSI, or from 1,093 incidents recorded last year to 794 this year.
De Chavez said the decrease was attributed to the implementation of local traffic ordinances, conduct of road safety seminars, strategic conduct of checkpoints, and massive information operation.
NOCPPO further encourages the cooperation of the general public for the peaceful celebration of the yuletide season while it implements interventions to sustain the peaceful environment of the province for the remaining days of 2024./PN
