DILG tasks NCRPO to require weekly crime reporting

DILG Sec. Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas (PNA Photo)

MANILA — As part of its anti-criminality campaign, members of the National Capital Region Police Office (NRCPO) are now required to submit crime reports on a weekly basis to identify areas where police will be deployed, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II said on Thursday.

”This is information based and data based ibig sabihin lahat ng foot patrol lahat ng checkpoint ng gawin in each 38 stations in NCR weekly nirereport. We will improve the strength of the PNP and use crime mapping in identifying crime prone areas and the times of the day that these are vulnerable, so we can deploy the cops accordingly,” Roxas said during a press briefing in PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame.

He said that with this approach, the PNP will know where to deploy the cops to lessen crime incidents and address the anti-criminality campaign.

He added that the PNP headquarters is continuously auditing crime statistics in Metro Manila to verify if these are factual and consistent crime records.

”Patuloy rin ang pagaaudit ng crame sa mga natatalang krimen. Inaaudit yung report kontra sa bawat stations. There are 38 stations in NCR. Randomly every week, the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) of PNP will audit to know the stats if it’s consistent. There have been some reliefs of some police chief for various reasons in Metro Manila… So seryoso po kami rito hindi namin papabayaan na lumala o magpatuloy ang criminality situation dito sa NCR,” he stressed.

He said the NCRPO launched in recent months “Oplan Lambat,” or the regular inspection of motorcycles’ documents to determine if these are stolen or with spurious documents.

Roxas said the program will be replicated in other regions.

The NCRPO also increased its checkpoint groups from 38 teams to 100 teams, with each team manned by eight policemen. An additional 1,000 policemen were deployed to Metro Manila to beef up its 18,000 police force.

Roxas also said the PNP reported the increase of the arrested wanted persons in the past two months.

“In general, we can say that there is a slight improvement but we are not satisfied. But these are the first fruits and indications of the campaign of the PNP and the National Capital Region Police Office,” he said adding that this is not a reason for the PNP to rest on its laurels.

From June 16 to August 10, an average of 223 criminals have been arrested each week, mostly due to served arrest warrants.

He attributed the improved statistics to the PNP’s strategy of assigning one team of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to focus on one criminal group or incident.

The CIDG currently has 15 teams operating in this manner under Task Force Pivot, which is primarily tasked to investigate high profile or cold cases, as well as criminal syndicates.

Roxas said operatives managed to focus on certain case until perpetrators are identified, arrested and charged.

Roxas said the PNP arrested 347 wanted criminals this week while 439 felons were netted this week.

He added that cases of thefts, robberies, homicides and murders went down in the past two weeks, with 757 cases recorded from August 11 to 17, and 692 from August 18 to 25.

Meanwhile, a total of 26,407 houses of licensed gun owners were personally visited from July 16 to August 25 by policemen under Oplan Katok, to check gun owners with expired firearm registrations.

“These figures are proof that our policemen are doing their jobs,” Roxas said.