BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO recorded a significant decrease in crime volume by 46 percent after having recorded a total crime volume of 4,655 from July 2016 to June 2017 compared to the 8,545 crime volume from July 2015 to June 2016 or a decrease of 3,888 crimes.
Senior Superintendent Ramil Saculles, City Director of the Baguio city Police office (BCPO), of the same period, the index crimes recorded were 1,237 or a drastic decline of 73 percent compared to the 4,657 index crimes the previous year while index crimes dropped by 29 percent from 4,797 in July 2015 to June 2016 to 3,384 crimes from July 2016 to July 2017.
The BCPO chief explained theft, physical injuries and robbery are the three most prevalent crimes in the different parts of the city wherein all the said incidents decreased from July 2016 to June 2017 compared to the same period on July 2015 to June 2016.
Based on the data obtained from the BCPO, theft dropped by 71 percent, physical injuries decreased by 59 percent and robbery dipped by 73 percent while carnapping dropped by 9 incidents or 17 percent.
However, Saculles admitted rape, murder and homicide increased by 7 percent, 5 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
On the monthly trend on focus crimes, Saculles reported the down trend in index crime incidents from July 2015 to June 2017 considering that since the implementation of Project Double Barrel in July 2016, it was observed that index crimes were decreasing from 204 recorded crime incidents to 49 incidents this June.
According to him, the index crime clearance efficiency increased gradually from July 2016 to present registering an average of 68 percent, an increase of 26 percent compared to the same period of July 2015 to June 2016 with a crime clearance efficiency of only 42 percent.
Saculles revealed the index crime solution efficiency had an average of 51 percent for the period July 2016 to June 2017 or an increase of 15 percent or an increase of the average of the previous years with only 37 percent.
The police official expressed his gratitude to the members of Baguio’s Finest and the support of the local officials in addressing the primary causes of crime, citing that the aggressive campaign of the national government against the proliferation of illegal drugs have resulted in the reduction of various crimes committed around the city.
Saculles served as BCPO officer-in-charge from October 2016 to early June this year before being unanimously endorsed by the local screening committee as the City Director.
He urged residents in the city’s 128 barangays to be vigilant on the doubtful activities of individuals in their neighbourhood and for them to report such illegal activities to the nearest police station for the conduct of evaluation and validation of such report before the conduct of appropriate operations to deter the commission of crimes at the earliest possible stage.
Baguio city has been identified as one of the peaceful and orderly cities in the country because of the significant down trend in the occurrence of crimes and the ability of the police force to deter the occurrence of crimes.
By Dexter A. See