Drop in common crimes due to anti-drug campaign: PNP

FILE: Philippine National Police personnel on December 31 at the National Headquarters (Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

MANILA — The Philippine National Police has attributed the decrease in common crimes to the ongoing campaign against illegal drugs.

“We have to relate this to the anti-drug campaign of the PNP Chief and the President and because of the intensified campaign against illegal drugs, we should acknowledge there was a substantial decrease in the number of common crimes,” PNP spokesperson, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, said Friday when asked to comment on the recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing that common crimes have hit a record low of an average 5.6 percent last year.

Based on its Dec. 8-16 poll last year, the SWS found that 7.1 percent of families experienced common crimes, such as losing property to street robbers, burglars, and car thieves within the past six months.

Due to the record-low property crime rate of 3.1 percent in June 2017, however, the resulting annual average for 2017 was a record-low 5.6 percent, 2 points less than the 7.6-percent annual average in 2016 and 0.6 point less than the previous record-low annual average of 6.2 percent in 2015.

Those victimized by physical violence, meanwhile, averaged 0.7 percent last year, lower than the 0.8 percent annual average in 2016.

The latest SWS poll also showed that 7.6 percent of the Philippine population or roughly 1.7 million families reported having been victimized by any of the common crimes in the last quarter of 2017.

The annual average hit a record low of 6.1 percent, even lower than the 8.2 annual average for 2016.

Complaints from families victimized by street robbery ended with a record-low annual average of 4.2 percent, owing to a 2.3 percent rate in June 2017.

The latest survey of the polling body showed lower 2017 averages for street robbery and break-ins despite increases in the previous two quarters.

It also registered lower averages for the people’s fear of burglary and presence of drug addicts.

The SWS survey had 1,200 respondents, 300 each from Metro Manila, other areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It has a sample error margin of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.