BY. MA THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO City – In the first four months of this year, crime incidents in Western Visayas reached 8,014, or 1.01 percent higher than the 7,933 incidents recorded in the same period last year.
The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6) released this updated and corrected data yesterday.
PRO-6 said the Public Safety Indicator showed an upward trend from January to April 2024 with 4,075 crime incidents. This was 7.27 higher than the 3,799 incidents logged in the same period last year.
This uptick is largely attributed to higher cases of reckless imprudence leading to death, physical injuries, property damage, and successful police operations enforcing special laws on illegal activities such as gambling, fishing, logging, possession of firearms, and drug-related offenses.
As to the Peace and Order Indicator, crime incidents saw a 4.72 percent decline, or 3,939 incidents from January to April this year, compared to last year’s 4,134 incidents.
PRO-6 data further showed that in the first four months of the year, the number of eight focus crimes dropped. A total of 823 incidents were recorded – 14.63 percent lower, or 141 cases down, from the 964 incidents in the same period in 2023.
Eight focus crimes include serious offenses such as murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, car theft, and motorcycle theft.
PRO-6 said the decrease in focus crimes and peace and order incidents suggests effective policing strategies, while the rise in public safety incidents calls for further measures to address specific safety concerns in the community.
Additionally, positive police operations under special laws also saw an increase. In 2023, there were 1,306 operations carried out from January to April, whereas in 2024, it rose to 1,442, marking an increase of 136 operations, or 10 percent./PN
