Crime volume down by 7% – PNP

Crime volume across the country has been reduced to seven percent for the first eight months of the year compared to the same period last year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) disclosed yesterday.

From a total of 393,150 incidents from January to August last year, police have recorded a crime volume of 364,915 in the first eight months this year, or a reduction of 7.18 percent according to the PNP.

Director Augusto Marquez, head of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), said the significant reduction was recorded in the so-called index crime volume.

Based on the data, the PNP noted that index crime volume has significantly decreased to 20,675 (21.38 percent) crimes nationwide in the period of January to August 2016 and January to August 2017.

The PNP classifies index crimes such as carnapping, cattle rustling, murder, homicide, physical injury, homicide, theft, robbery, and rape.

Based on the report, the National Capital Region’s index crime data went down to 12,631 compared to 15,027 crimes recorded on the same period of 2016.

Marquez said non-index crimes nationwide was reduced by 7, 560 or 2.55 percent compared to the 296,444 non-index crimes of the same quarters last year.

He explained nonindex crimes are violation of special laws such as illegal drugs, violation against women and children, child abuse, traffic code, firearms, illegal gambling, illegal logging, Juvenile Act, and illegal fishing.

Other non-index crimes are threat, alarm and scandal, malicious mischief, estafa, acts of lasciviousness, unjust vexation, direct assault, adultery, abortion, and arson, DIDM said.

The PNP leadership has been attributing the crime rate reduction to the aggressive antidrugs war since July last year.