Friday, October 06, 2006 Police to determine crime prone areas in Bacolod By Nicolas C. Delfin
THE killing of a tricycle driver last Wednesday, his body left at what is now increasingly known as a human dumpsite, led Bacolod City Police Director Pedro Merced to implement a crime "planking" strategy.
This strategy includes the profiling of criminalities and the identification of the places where these incidences usually took place.
After this, the Police forces can then be deployed to prevent crimes in the city.
"Sometimes, it takes a life before we can see the preventive measures that we should have done," Merced said referring to the killing of Joseph Biay, 28, a tricycle driver.
Biay's lifeless body was found inside a sugarcane field in Purok Sambag, Barangay Alijis Wednesday morning.
His body bore stab wounds at the left chest and the nape.
Police Precinct 7 commander Jonathan Lorilla said Biay could have fallen prey to the "motorcycle carnappers," who reportedly operates by boarding a tricycle, killing its driver and detaching the sidecar.
The motorcycle is then used as a getaway vehicle, leaving the sidecar and the driver at secluded places in the city.
It appeared that Biay is the second man to have fallen prey to this type of modus operandi.
Initial investigation showed that four men and a woman hired Biay to drive them from the Goldenfield Commercial Complex to Barangay Alijis.
Lorilla said they later found that Biay's motorcycle was stolen while the detached sidecar was left at Puentevella Subdivision in Barangay Taculing.
He added that the area from Cegasco in Barangay Alijis to Barangay Handuman have twice been used as a dumping site for salvaging victims.
These areas, he said, are secluded, have less residents and streetlighting and is often used for sugarcane or rice farming.
In the meantime, Merced advises drivers to refrain from plying outside the routes that have been designated for their use.
He said he has ordered the patrolling of the areas that have been considered as "crime prone" areas here in Bacolod City.
Merced is also hopeful that the "crime planking" strategy can help them in their fight against criminality.
"The approach will help us where exactly could we deploy additional forces that will patrol our mobile units in these areas," he added.
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