The incidence of eight “focus” crimes being closely monitored by the Philippine National Police (PNP) substantially went down by 14.69 percent this year.
Citing latest statistics, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said a total of 9,345 crime incidents were recorded from Jan. 1 to April 8 this year d as compared to 10,954 cases recorded in the same period last year.
Azurin identified the eight focus crimes as murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, theft, robbery, car theft and motorcycle theft.
He asserted that he had implemented measures to improve police visibility and strengthen police-community relations across the country.
Part of the security measures were the immediate response to the complaints of the people, police presence down to the communities and aggressive coordination with local officials and stakeholders to combat crimes, particularly illegal drugs at the barangay level.
The pro-active and preventive measures also included a campaign against loose firearms and the accounting of wanted persons.
Based on the latest data, around 2,000 people were arrested for possession of loose guns while almost 7,000 were seized since January this year.
On the other hand, more than 17,00 wanted persons have been arrested since January this year, the PNP chief said.