Bacolod City – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) here reported an 8.67 percent drop in the crime volume during the first half of 2021.
Based on the data from NOCPPO, 1,348 crimes were recorded from January to June 2021, compared to the 1,476 incidents in the same months in 2020.
Index crimes or crimes against person or property, also decreased by 54 cases or 16.22 percent from 333 incidents last year to 279 cases this year.
These crimes included the eight focus crimes including murder which topped the list after increasing by 13 cases (18.06 percent), from 72 incidents in 2020 to 85 cases in 2021.
Early this month, NOCPPO released data indicating 15 unsolved murder cases from shooting incidents from January to June this year. Four incidents involved suspected drug personalities.
This is higher compared to last year’s data of seven murder cases of shooting incidents covering the same period, though only one was drug-related, three were solved, and four were unsolved.
Police Lieutenant Abegael Donasco, NOCPPO information officer, earlier said that police continue to investigate these incidents, although they were also faced with challenges and one factor is the reluctance of witnesses to testify.
However, Donasco has reiterated their assurance to the people that these cases are not neglected.
Also part of the eight focus crimes was rape with 74 cases, followed by theft with 42 cases, physical injury (33 cases), robbery (23), homicide (18), and motornapping (4).
No carnapping incidents were recorded since last year.
While there was an increase in murder cases, the provincial police force had seen an 8.67 percent decrease in the average monthly crime rate with 8.26 this year compared to last year’s 9.05.
For non-index crimes or violation of special laws and other crimes, NOCPPO also noted a reduction by 74 cases (6.47 percent), from 1,143 cases last year to 1,069 cases this year.
For crime clearance efficiency (cases filed, but suspects at large), NOCPPO reported a 41.25 percent drop from 77.14 in 2020 to 35.90 the following year.
Crime solution efficiency (suspects arrested and cases filed) also decreased by 29.82 percent, from 65.71 last year to 35.90 in 2021.
Meanwhile, traffic accidents dropped by 22 or 4.45 percent from 494 incidents in 2020 to 472 incidents this year.
(Glazyl Masculino via The Daily Guardian (TDG), photo courtesy of TDG)
