Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police here said they intend to keep the low crime rate they recorded from December 15, 2021, to January 1, 2022, by controlling the movement of people.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said that from the said period, their office recorded only 19 crime incidents in the whole city.
Parilla further said that the 19 incidents in two weeks are very low compared to the same period in 2020 wherein they averaged at least 21 incidents per week.
“This is very low compared to the previous year [2020]. In the previous year, we averaged 21 incidents per week. So if we divide this one because it is two weeks, roughly we only have eight or nine incidents per week,” Parilla said.
Parilla added that what’s more impressive is that the drop in crime rate happened in December which, according to their previous records, can be considered a peak month when it comes to crime incidents.
“Ubos gihapon atong incidents. Gani duna ratay isa ka robbery diri, kining atong gitawag nga lungkab, dili na siya katong mga gitulis,” he said.
According to Parilla, the lower crime rate could be attributed to the heightened deployment of police personnel as part of the measures implemented for the enforcement of minimum health standard protocols.
Aside from that, there were also fewer activities held during the Yuletide season since the city was also heavily affected by Typhoon Odette.
He added that the police have also implemented security ‘innovations’ which include strict patrolling even in the interior portions of all barangays in the city to utilize the members of the Barangay Peace Security Office (BPSO).
In 2021, the Cebu City government has required members of the BPSO to report to their respective police stations to help in patrolling the barangays.
For 2022, Parilla said their main challenge is to sustain the massive police deployment as this would greatly help in lowering the crime statistics in the city.
“This was recorded because of our strict implementation and deployment of our personnel. Then usa sad sa nakatabang sa pag ubos sa kaso sa tuig because of less activity. Less ang movement sa tawo,” he added. /rcg