Crime cases down 46% during quarantine –JTF COVID Shield

The Joint Task Force COVID Shield (JTF COVID Shield) said on Saturday that there was a 46 percent decline in the Philippine National Police's eight focus crimes during the first 200 days of the community quarantine that was imposed last March.

According to a statement, the eight focus crimes were murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping of motorcycles, and carnapping of cars.

“While the community quarantine denied criminal elements the usual opportunity to strike, the increased police visibility down to the barangay level is a big factor in reducing criminal incidents across the country,” Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, JTF COVID Shield commander, said.

JTF COVID Shield data showed there were a total of 18,683 crimes recorded from March 17 to October 2, a decrease from the 34,768 criminal incidents from August 30, 2019 to March 16, 2020.

“Translated to a daily crime average, the Philippines has recorded an average of 93 criminal incidents per day during the 200-day implementation of the community quarantine compared to 174 per day incidents of the 200-day period before the community quarantine implementation,” Eleazar said.

There was a 64 percent decline in motorcycle theft cases, from 2,210 to 768, during the quarantine period, according to the JTF COVID Shield.

Meanwhile, robbery cases recorded a 61 percent decline where incidents decreased from 5,627 to 2,073.

A 60 percent decline was also recorded for cases of theft and carnapping of cars. Theft cases decreased from 11,653 to 4,690 while cases for carnapping of cars decreased from 240 to 97.

Cases of physical injury, meanwhile, recorded a 38 percent decline with incidents decreasing from 5,958 to 3,692 while rape cases decreased from 5,080 to 3,911 or a 23 percent decline.

Murder cases also decreased from 3,463 to 2,761, a 20 percent decline, while homicide cases decreased from 897 to 673 or a 25 percent decline. — DVM, GMA News