PNP explains why crime rate is up

More people have gained confidence to report a crime to the police, the reason why the number of people who claimed to have been victimized by criminals went up in the third quarter of this year.

Another reason, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP), is the holiday season when crimes against property such as robbery and theft usually rise.

“There are certain crime types that are ‘seasonal’ in terms of frequency which become more prevalent when the element of opportunity is present such as during the Holiday season when the objects of crime abound,” the PNP said in a statement.

The statement runs counter to what Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, said: That the police has not detected the usual increase in crimes during the ‘ber’ months in the past two years.

Earlier, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on crime victimization during the third quarter stated that some 1.4-million Filipinos were victimized by criminals.

But Albayalde said the entire picture of the crime rate, as well as past surveys, should be considered.

He explained that during the first quarter, or from January to March, a 6.6 percent crime victimization rate was posted which represents some 1.5million Filipinos.

It went down on the second quarter to 5.4 percent, or an estimated 1.2 -million Filipinos.

In total, Albayalde said there was a significant decrease in the crime rate if the data on first 10 months of this year would be factored in. The PNP leadership would usually attribute the decrease in the crime rate to the successful conduct of anti-drugs operations.

“In our analysis of the national crime environment, 10-month total crime volume decreased 13.06 percent in January through October 2018 as compared with the total crime volume during the same period in 2017,” said Albayade.

He said the same SWS survey, conducted on September 15 to 23, also showed an improvement in the feeling of safety and security of citizens against property crimes like burglary - from 55 percent in June 2018 to 52 percent in September 2018.