Monday, October 15, 2007 Crime rate in region has dropped: police By Carlo P. Mallo
AVERAGE monthly crime rate in Southern Mindanao for the first three quarters of 2007 has decreased compared to the same period last year. Only the provinces of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental recorded increases in their monthly average crime incident rates.
From a monthly average of 7.52 crime incidents for every 100,000 population, crime incidents in Southern Mindanao has now decreased to only 6.81 crime incidents.
Police Regional Office-Southern Mindanao director Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II has attributed the decrease primarily to the cooperation of the citizenry and the efficiency of the law enforcers in maintaining peace and order.
Davao City, though having the highest crime incident rate in the region, also accounted for the biggest decrease.
In the first three quarters of 2006, Davao City had an average monthly crime rate of 11.46 while for the same period in 2007 a monthly crime incident rate of 9.69 was recorded.
However, the province of Davao del Norte recorded an increase in its average monthly crime rate. In 2006, it had an incident rate of 7.55 while for the same period in 2007 it increased to a monthly average of 7.61. Likewise Davao Oriental also experienced an increase from only 4.23 average monthly crime rates in 2006 to 4.41 in 2007.
