Baguio crime volume drops by 45 percent last year

BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) reported that the crime volume in the city drastically dropped by 45 percent after recording some 1,630 crimes last year compared to the documented 3,584 crimes the previous year.
BCPO City Director Police Col. Allen Rae F. Co disclosed that the volume of focus crimes significantly dropped last year compared to the previous year that contributed to the continues drop in the crime volume in the city over the past several years.
Based on the annual accomplishment report of Baguio’s finest, vehicular traffic accidents dropped by 54 percent from 1,475 the previous year compared to 681 cases last year; murder decreased by 50 percent from 10 cases the previous year compared to the 5 cases the previous year; homicide declined by 25 percent from 16 cases in 2018 to 12 cases last year; and physical injuries dropped by only 14 percent from 153 cases during the previous year to 131 cases last year.
The BCPO official attributed the significant decline in the crime volume of the city to the utmost cooperation of residents and tourists to the repeated appeal of the city police force for vigilance coupled with the improved police visibility in the identified crime prone areas in the city that served as a deterrent to the occurrence of crimes.
According to him, the occurrence of crimes started to drastically decrease following the aggressive implementation of the government’s anti-drug campaign after the assumption into office of President Rodrigo Duterte that left no stone unturned in the said campaign that brought criticism from both domestic and international human rights advocates who questioned the mode of implementing the campaign causing the untimely death of over 5,000 individuals allegedly linked to the illegal drugs trade in the country.
He pointed out that the city police force continues to intensify the established anti-criminal, anti-terrorism, anti-insurgency and peacekeeping interventions to help make Baguio City a safe place to work, live, study and do business, especially that the city is a melting pot of different cultures.
Baguio City is one of the top performing local police offices in the country with the improving crime solution efficiency coupled with the continuous decline in crime volume due to the effective and efficient implementation of interventions to achieve lasting peace.
He urged both residents and tourists to immediately report to the nearest police station any incident that tends to affect the peace and order situation in the city as the cooperation and participation of the public in curbing crimes is important.
Co expressed optimism the decline in the crime volume in the different parts of the city will continue amidst the upcoming conduct of different crowd-drawing activities in the city./Dexter A. See