Metro crime rate down

A total of 1,454 crimes occurred during the first six weeks in office of Metro Manila police chief Director Edgar Aglipay but the figure is showing a downward trend. And Aglipay has launched a four-point agenda dubbed "How to Control Crime" to further reduce the figure during the first quarter of year 2002.

Records furnished The Star showed that from Nov. 14 to Dec. 26 last year, 1,454 total crime volume was recorded with 852 incidents listed as index crimes while the remaining 602 are classified as non-index crimes.

Index-crimes are those committed against persons such as rape, murder, homicide and physical injuries while non-index crimes are cases against property like theft and robbery.

Of the total crime volume, the Western Police District (WPD) listed the most number of crimes committed with 388 and closely followed by the Southern Police District (SPD) with 319. Coming in third was the Eastern Police District (EPD) with 257, the Northern Police District (NPD) showing 233 cases and the Central Police District (CPD) listing 164 cases. But the positive side is that the police solved 1,361 of the cases reported, or a 93.60 crime solution efficiency. The CPD under Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Tor topped the police anti-crime programs by registering a 100 percent solution efficiency.

Despite his initial successes, however, Aglipay egged the five police district directors and 37 station commanders to fully implement his four-point agenda to control crimes in their areas of responsibility.

To control crime, Aglipay hinted, the police must at all times have an accurate and timely intelligence, rapid deployment, effective tactics and relentless follow-up operations and assessment.

"If the police are to respond effectively to crime and to criminal events, officers at all levels have to have accurate knowledge of incidents when particular types of crimes are occurring, how and where the crimes are being committed, and who the criminals are," Aglipay told a gathering of police officials Saturday.

Once a crime pattern has been established, an array of personnel in a coordinated effort and other necessary resources should be promptly deployed to deal with it, he said.

In order to bring about a permanent solution to the crime problem, Aglipay said that police tactics deployed should be comprehensive, flexible and adaptable to the shifting crime trends.

"As in any problem-solving endeavor, an ongoing process of rigorous follow-up and assessment is absolutely essential to ensure that the desired results are actually being achieved," Aglipay also said. "This evaluation also permits us to assess particular tactical responses and to incorporate the knowledge we gain into our subsequent efforts."

Once the problem goes on unabated, the police should redeploy additional manpower and resources to meet newly identified challenges, he said.