Col. Gilberto Tuzon, officer-in-charge of the General Santos City Police Office
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Crime incidence here dropped by about 44 percent amid the renewed implementation of heightened community quarantine measures in the last two months due to the rising cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Col. Gilberto Tuzon, acting city police director, said Wednesday the recorded crimes in September and October in the city’s 26 barangays decreased to 242 from 556 in the same period last year.
He said robbery cases still topped the list but declined during the period along with murder, rape, and physical injury.
The official said such situation was mainly due to the movement restrictions by the city government in late August following the confirmation of Covid-19 local transmission in the area.
The city was placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) from Aug. 28 to Oct. 15 and modified GCQ “high risk” starting Oct. 16.
But it sustained the restrictions implemented during the GCQ period like the city-wide curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., strict border control measures, and the “no movement Sunday.”
“The decrease was logical since our economic activities were controlled and not all people were able to go out of their homes,” he said in a report.
Tuzon said they complemented the situation through intensified law enforcement operations since he assumed office last Sept. 16.
He said a total of 54 anti-illegal drug operations were launched as of the end of October that resulted in the killing of 10 suspects, arrest of 51 others, and the recovery of 23 grams of suspected shabu worth PHP239,740.
Some 44 operations against illegal gambling were also conducted, with 111 suspects arrested and PHP26,661 bet money confiscated, he said.
The police official said at least 758 persons were arrested and penalized for loitering in public “half-naked” while 1,868 violators of the odd-even scheme for motor vehicles were nabbed during the GCQ period.
He said some 1,485 persons were caught violating the curfew and 1,710 others for going out in public without the required quarantine passes.
Some 4,766 individuals were penalized for violating the city’s physical distancing regulation, 2,494 for not wearing face masks, 6,194 for not wearing face shield, and 2,494 for the “no backrider” policy. (PNA)
