GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 14 Jan) – Crime incidence in Region 12 has dropped by about 23 percent last year as the peace and order situation in most parts of the region continued to improve.
Chief Supt. Lester Camba, Region 12 police director, said the intensified law enforcement and security operations of local police units helped deter the occurrence of crime-related incidents, which reached a total of 31,668 in 2014.
He said such figure was 9,660 lower than the recorded crime volume of 41,328 in 2013 in the entire region.
“We made a significant mark in terms of lowering our crime volume in 2014 and we will intensify further our fight against criminalities this year,” Camba said during the traditional New Year’s Call of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 on Monday.
The New Year’s Call is an annual activity wherein members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) pay a courtesy call on their commanders or key officials in their respective areas of responsibility.
Aside from the reduced crime volume, the official said the ability of local police units to investigate and resolve crimes also improved last year.
He said such situation could be seen with the increase in the overall crime solution efficiency of the region to 38.33 percent last year from the previous 36.12 percent.
In terms of the operations against illegal drugs, Camba said they were able to launch a total of 517 raids and buy-busts from January to December 2014.
He said these operations led to the arrest of 700 suspected illegal drug pushers and couriers, majority of whom were already charged in local courts and prosecution offices.
The anti-illegal drug operations resulted to the recovery of 1.8 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and 8.8 kilograms of dried marijuana that were valued at P24 million, he said.
For this year, Camba said they have set various strategies to further improve the peace and order and security situation in the entire region.
He said they are specifically looking into various security setbacks, among them the deadly bomb attacks in North Cotabato and other parts of Region 12 last year.
“Setbacks that we are not proud of and have affected our morale. But these should not be a hindrance to our desire for excellence in the delivery of services,” he added.
During the New Year’s Call, the PRO-12 gave out citations and recognized local police offices, stations and units that recorded major accomplishments last year.
Among the major achievements in 2014 was the awarding of the PRO-12 website by the PNP central office as the “Most Outstanding PNP website.”