Police reminds public to be careful of belongings when in public places

| file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The police here is urging the public to be careful with their belongings, especially when in public places, after a snatching incident caught on camera went viral recently.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, Cebu City Police Office deputy director for operations, made this call after seeing a viral video of a snatching incident that happened along N. Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City.

The dashcam footage showed a minor stealing the phone of a passenger of a bus that was caught in traffic. The kid sneaked to the side of the bus while stuck in traffic and then leaped to grab the phone from a passenger seated at the window side of the bus just as it was about to move. The kid then run off with the mobile phone just as the bus left.

While they encourage to report any similar incident to the authorities, Parilla said the public has also a responsibility to be careful with their belongings so as not to give snatchers an opportunity to steal.

“So ato na pirming gibalik-balik nga dili nato tagaan og opportunity ang mga kriminal nga maka commit sila og crime,” said Parilla. “Nagkompyansa lang sad kaayo siya nga naggamit siya sa iyang cellphone maybe because wala na gyud ta’y natala nga snatching incident [diha].”

(What we always remind the public is not to give criminals the chance to commit a crime. The passenger was to complacent in using the cellphone in public transportation because maybe there have been no snatching incidents reported in that area.)

With this, Parilla said they will be again be initiating information dissemination to the public to be extra careful and avoid using their mobile phones, particularly when walking in public places.

Parilla noted that most of the suspects of snatching incidents in the area are minors, as what previous records show.

He said they still have to check whether the incident was reported to the police, stressing that they will also refer it to the nearby barangays since they are the ones who know their constituents.

Meanwhile, Parilla said that in order to prevent such crimes, police will be realigning their deployment and will put up permanent personnel during rush hours in the afternoon or in the morning.

“Considering nga nagkadaghan na atong mga tawo nga nanggawas, mura og normal na gyud siya unya diha nga area before wa gyud ta’y matala nga snatching diha because wala may traffic. So dretso-dretso raman ang mga sakyanan. Karon nagka traffic nasad, especially sa buntag ug hapon, maybe this is the time sad nga magdeploy ta aning mga orasa mas daghan ang krimen ang mahitabo,” he said.

(Considering that there are more people going out now, it’s like it’s normal already and that area there didn’t have any records of snatching because there was no traffic congestion. So vehicles were freely travelling that area. Now that there is traffic jams, especially during mornings and afternoons, maybe this is the time we need to deploy personnel in the area during times when crimes usually happen.)

/bmjo

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