PNP: Crime rate on the decline since 2005

The crime volume from January to July in 2005, 2006 and 2007 has consistently went down, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported Wednesday. Based on the data released by Director Jefferson Soriano, chief of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), the total crime volume for the first seven months of 2005, 2006 and 2007 exhibited a downward trend, at an annual rate of 7.58 percent. Soriano said in 2005 a total of 45,964 crimes were reported, 42,141 in 2006 and 39,261 in 2007. Index crimes (murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, and theft), in particular, posted a decline from 26,115 in 2005; to 25,134 in 2006; and to 22,280 in 2007. Street crimes also went down over the three-year period - from 8,609 in 2005; to 6,769 in 2006; and to 6,150 in 2007. "This (downtrend) is because of our pro-active programs like increased police visibility, deployment of motorcycle cops, walking the beat program, implementation of containment rings like checkpoints and chokepoints, non-stop manhunt operations, deployment of secret marshals, night-watch program, and our community linkages," Soriano explained. But while there is a downtrend in the volume of crimes, the PNP conceded that there is also a drop in its crime solution efficiency, from 88.57 percent in 2005; to 88.28 percent in 2006; and to 88.15 percent in 2007. This means that not much crime incidents were solved by the PNP this year compared to the previous years. Soriano failed to explain this slight reduction. "We do not find comfort in this crime solution record because we honestly believe that we can do more along the area of crime prevention, and that is precisely the focus of our current operational thrust on anti-criminality," said Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. As to the findings of the Social Weather Station in its June 2007 survey on Crime Victimization, Pagdilao said the PNP takes the empirical date derived by SWS "as added inputs to our continuing study of crime trends, crime mapping, and crime reporting, among others." "It should be understood that crime statistics culled by the PNP are only those of cases reported to the police. And we acknowledge the SWS survey on Crime Victimization as an academic alternative that seeks to provide answers to perennial questions about crime reporting, and the peace and order situation," Pagdilao said. Pagdilao took pride in the fact that "we continue to enjoy a relatively safe and secure environment here in Metro Manila compared with other key cities in Asia, and perhaps also in America and Europe." - GMANews.TV