Cebu City Police records decline in index crime rate in Q1 of 2022

Cebu City Police Office | contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines— The Cebu City Police Office reported that there was almost a 50-percent decline in index crime rate in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in the previous year.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, information officer of the CCPO, said a total of 118 index crimes was recorded in Cebu City this quarter, way lower than the 205 recorded last year.

Macatangay said according to their data from the Crime Information and Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS), they recorded at least 3.88 percent of crime rate per month, or 2 crimes per day, in the city for this quarter alone.

Index Crimes, as Macatangay said, includes crimes of murder, homicide, rape, physical injuries, theft, robbery and carnapping.

These crimes are called index crimes as these are “common indicators of the nation’s crime experience because of their seriousness and frequency of occurrence.”

Macatangay said that most of the incidents reported to them concern theft and physical injuries.

“Considering sa ka dako sa Cebu city ug kadaghan sa iyang population, we can confidently say na peaceful gyud ta sa Cebu City.” Macatangay said.

(Considering the size of Cebu City and its population, we can confidently say that Cebu City is peaceful.)

Cebu City has 80 barangays.

Apart from these index crime incidents, the CCPO also improved in their crime efficiency and solution rates.

For this quarter, the CCPO logged 99.38-percent Crime Clearance Efficiency and 96.83-percent Crime Solution Efficiency. On the same period in 2021, they had 95.87-percent of cleared cases and 90.76-percent solved ones.

A case is considered cleared if the suspect has been identified and a criminal complaint has been filed against the person. However, none is arrested yet.

Meanwhile, a case is considered closed if police have arrested the suspect and the crime complaint has also been filed.

Despite fewer crime incidents in the city, the CCPO will remain to be vigilant, especially following the de-escalation of the Alert Level status in the city.

Starting March 16, Cebu City was placed under Alert Level 1. With this new alert level status, establishments can now operate with a 100-percent capacity.

READ: Alert Level 1: Cebu City establishments to return to 100% capacity

Consequently, the increase of establishments reopening in this relaxed quarantine classification will affect the deployment of the CCPO personnel. |With a report from Multimedia Intern Jewil Anne M. Tabiolo

READ: Metro Manila, 47 others under COVID-19 Alert Level 1 from March 16 to 31

/bmjo