By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) reported an 11 percent decrease in crimes from January to June this year.
Based on data from Nocppo, a total of 2,104 incidents were reported during the first half of this year, compared to 2,364 incidents last year, a difference of 260 cases.
Kabankalan City Police Station topped the list with 163 crimes this year, while Pulupandan town had the fewest incidents at 17.
For the eight focus crimes, the provincial police office noted a drop of 129 incidents, or 33.59 percent, from 384 in 2023 to 255 this year, covering the same period.
Murder topped the list with 73 cases, followed by rape with 65, theft with 44, physical injury with 24, homicide with 23, robbery with 21, carnapping of motorcycles with 4, and carnapping of vehicles with 1.
Murder cases this year increased by four, or 5.80 percent, from 69 incidents last year, while physical injury also rose by six incidents, or 33.33 percent, from 18 cases in 2023.
Although these two crimes increased, Police Captain Wilma Silva, public information officer of Nocppo, said these incidents were considered isolated, with motives mostly due to grudges and drunkenness.
The police station in Kabankalan City logged the highest number of focus crimes this year, with 17 cases out of the 31 police stations in the province. However, it also reported a 16 percent decrease from 33 cases last year.
Silva said factors contributing to the overall reduction in crime volume included the implementation of Nocppo’s best practices against criminality.
These included the “Armas Baylo Bugas” campaign against loose firearms, “Oplan Resolba” for unsolved cases, Revitalized Pulis sa Barangay Buhay Ingatan, Droga Ayawan (BIDA), internal security operations, “Oplan Dasig” for quick police response, “Birada Semana,” which is a week-long implementation of all law enforcement operations, strict implementation of the Integrated Patrol Deployment Plan (PDP), “Oplan Bakal Sita,” and the strict enforcement of local ordinances.
