PNP: Crime down 23.6% in first weeks of 2023
MANILA, Philippines — Crime was down across the Philippines in the first three weeks of 2023, Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said Monday as he declared a strong start to the year for the Philippine National Police.
In a briefing, Azurin said crime incidents "generally decreased" by 23.66% with 8,391 cases recorded from January 1 to 21 against 10,991 during the same period in 2022.
Index crimes — those against persons, such as murder, homicide, physical injury and rape and against property, like theft and cattle rustling — have also gone down by 29.96% to 1,576 against 2,250 last year.
Azurin partly credited the decrease in incidents to the Kasimbayanan program, where the PNP partners with religious leaders and organizations as well as community stakeholders for peace and order. "We are now harvesting the fruits of our labor," Azurin, who relaunched the program last October, said.
At the same briefing, the PNP chief said anti-narcotics police operations resulted in the confiscation of around P81.29 million in illegal drugs in 1,831 police operations between January 1 and 16. He said that among 2,518 drug suspects arrested in the same period, 146 were identified as "big-time drug pushers."
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Azurin said Monday that anti-drug operations are still "among the priority of the PNP" this year, with "greater emphasis" on demand reduction through the rehabilitation and treatment of drug users alongside operations to catch dealers and reduce supply.
Part of the drive against illegal drugs, the controversial call for courtesy resignations, has also been going well, the PNP chief said. He said that 942 senior PNP officials from among 953 third-level officers have already filed theirs and have agreed to undergo a review to clear them of suspected links to the drug trade.
The move, which Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos has acknowledged is a shortcut to the long process of filing cases against corrupt cops, has led to the PNP's Directorate of Personnel and Records Management waiting for just 11 letters of courtesy resignation from eight police colonels and three police brigadier generals.
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