The total crime volume in Bacolod City increased by 22.05 percent last year, compared to 2020, a year-end report of the Bacolod City Police Office showed.
Police records show that 1,384 incidents were recorded in Bacolod last year, compared to the 1,134 cases in 2020, which registered an increase of 250 incidents.
Of the 1,384 incidents last year, 1,140 were indexed as peace and order, previously known as index and non-crimes and involved murder, homicide, robbery, rape, physical injuries, theft, carnapping, and the implementation of special laws.
On the other hand, public safety crimes, classified as vehicular accidents, resulting in homicide, physical injuries, and damage to property, reached 344, in the same period.
The BCPO initially attributed the increase in the number of crime incidents to the loosening of movement restrictions and people going out of their houses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This also resulted in the increase in the Average Monthly Crime Rate by 22 percent, or from 15.44 percent per 100,000 population in 2020, to 18.85 percent last year.
Upon the assumption of P/Col. Joseph Thomas Martir as BCPO director before 2021 ended, he ordered the immediate implementation of the EMPO, or Enhanced Managing Police Operations, especially the conduct of target-specific interventions to reduce crime incidents or the 8 Focus Crimes. | GB
