PNP reports 20% decrease in crime incidents in December 2021

Crime incidents in the country decreased by 20% from December 1 to 27, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Sunday.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Roderick Augustus Alba said that the improved data may be due to eased COVID-19 restrictions in 2021.

“Ito ay na-attribute hindi lang sa ating kapulisan kundi sa cooperation ng ating kababayan. Naririnig nila ‘yung panawagan ng ating gobyerno particularly the PNP, to address criminality, firecracker incidents, tsaka itong indiscriminate firing sa pagpasok ng bagong taon,” he said.

(This is not only attributed to the police but also the cooperation of the public. They were listening to the calls of the government, particularly that of the PNP, to address criminality, firecracker incidents, and indiscriminate firing at the start of the new year.)

The PNP said on Saturday night that there were no stray bullet-related deaths during the New Year’s celebration. They were, however, investigating four alleged stray bullet incidents in the Ilocos, Calabarzon, Northern Mindanao, and Cordillera Regions.

In a 24 Oras Weekend report, Police Colonel Nolie Asuncion said one of these victims was hit by a stray bullet in the head and is now in the hospital in Batangas.

Another victim was hit while watching television on New Year's Eve and is now in good condition.

“Since wala tayong record, report coming from the uniformed service na nagpaputok ng baril, this came from the civilians. ‘Yon ang unang theory ko on my part,” Alba said.

(Since we don’t have records or reports of indiscriminate firing from the uniformed service, I assume that this came from the civilians. That is my first theory.)

In a statement, PNP Chief Police General Dionardo Carlos said that National Support Units would provide local police with forensic and technical support in their investigations.

Similar to last year, the PNP did not seal the gun muzzles of cops amid the New Year revelry.

There were also 68 additional firecracker-related injuries reported on Sunday, bringing the total to 153, according to the data by the Department of Health (DOH).

Despite this, Alba noted that their overall assessment for the New Year was “generally peaceful” as there were no major untoward incidents that were recorded.

On Christmas Day, there were no reported firing and stray bullet incidents coming from the police force and private gun owners, the PNP said.

Riding-in-tandem incidents

Further, Alba said that there was also a decrease in riding-in-tandem reports this year as compared to last year,

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier ordered the PNP to make a report on robbery incidents involving motorcycle-riding suspects.

Alba added that riding-in-tandem crimes dropped to 756 incidents from March 17 to October 16, 2020 from the 1,820 recorded from August 16, 2019 to March 16, 2020.

“We are taking this positively. We will be encouraging ‘yung paggamit ng ating kapulisan particularly ‘yung (the use of) body-worn cameras at ‘yung pagrereport ng ating (and the reporting of our) citizens is very important to address this riding-in-tandem incidents,” he said.

Duterte asked the PNP for the report as there was believed to be a spike in crimes involving riding-in-tandem perpetrators.

Carlos earlier said that the PNP is still in need of body-worn cameras to record relevant incidents during the execution of search or arrest warrants. — DVM/BM, GMA News