Crimes in city drop in last 2 months

CEBU, Philippines — Crimes in Cebu City dipped by 16 percent in the November-December period this year but theft, robbery, and physical injuries remained the most commonly committed crimes, just like last year and the years prior.

Lieutenant Colonel Clark Arriola, information officer of Cebu City Police Office, said that even with the decreasing number of crimes this year, theft, physical injuries and robbery cases still topped the number of index crimes.

Last year, robbery cases in Cebu City during November and December figured at 33 cases. This year, only 27 cases were reported, corresponding to a decrease of 18 percent.

Meanwhile, theft cases during the same period last year totaled 124 but were now down to 101 cases.

Physical injuries also slumped from 54 cases in November-December 2018 to 27 cases in the same period this year.

Murder cases, meanwhile, increased to 10 from last year’s seven, but no rape case was logged in the same period this year compared to last year’s 10 cases.

Improvement was also noted in carnapping incidents involving motorcycles. Twenty cases were recorded last year, but only four were reported in 2019.

Homicide cases also remained at zero this year.

CCPO likewise reported that the number of traffic and vehicular incidents in Nov-Dec 2019 increased to 325 from 200 the previous year.

Among these were cases of reckless imprudence resulting to physical injuries and damage to properties.

There were two traffic incidents that resulted in homicide this year, same as last year.

Arriola said that considering that Cebu City is highly-urbanized area, it’s somehow expected that robbery, theft and physical injuries would top the list of crimes.

“Mao gyud na siya kay naa man tay shopping malls, nay schools, so all other crimes nato murag matabunan gyud aning robbery, theft ug physical injury kay when there is influx of people, naa gyud diha ang crimes mahitabo,” he said.

“Ang tapok sa mga tawo, naa silay dalang mga bag, naay dalang daghang mga gamit so mao nang mahitabo atong mga theft ug robbery,” he added.

On physical injuries, Arriola said that another factor why Cebu City logged a considerably high number of cases is because it is a “residential” city, meaning it is inhabited by many people and the possibility of infliction of injuries is therefore high.

“Daghang imnanan, so mga hubog, maglalis, mag-away,” Arriola said.

Arriola took pride in saying that police conversation and coordination with the community and establishments owners have contributed to the decrease in crime statistics. (FREEMAN)