BACOLOD CITY – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has reported an average decrease of 40.52 percent in eight focus crimes from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, compared to the cases recorded in the same period in 2022.
These include murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motorcycle theft, also known as index crimes or crimes against person and property.
Data showed that in 2023, only 160 focus crimes were recorded, lower by 109 compared to 269 incidents logged in 2022.
Murder declined from 47 incidents to only 16, while homicide remained at nine.
There was also a drop in cases of physical injury, from 17 to seven; rape, 73 to 47; robbery, 23 to 12; theft, 92 to 62; and carnapping, two to zero, but motorcycle theft was up, from six to seven.
Lt. Col. Ronnie Brillo, commander of Bacolod City Mobile Force Company and BCPO spokesperson, in a telephone interview on Monday, attributed the fewer crimes to the sustained Philippine National Police programs on mobile patrol and checkpoint operations,among others.
“Aside from these, our city director (Col. Noel Aliño) has also implemented best practices such as the Bacolod Police Assistance Desk or B-PAD. With the mere presence of policemen, there is prevention of crime,” he added.
The BCPO has set up some 25 permanent B-PADs in various public areas in the city.
Brillo said other best practices included the “Bantay Holdaper and Akyat Bahay” or B-HAB, minimizing the robberies and thefts, as well as the “Dial-B" (Bacolod) that provides mobile phones to the tanod leaders in all 61 barangays of the city, allowing them to reach Aliño whenever they need assistance.
“We also conduct a monthly operation and strategy review, where we assess the crime incidents in a month, determine which area has more crimes, and what crimes are being committed. We then determine if the strategy is still applicable,” he added. (PNA)
