AN increasing number of robbery cases in the province has been noted lately, an official of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) said yesterday, July 5.
However, Nocppo concurrent spokesperson Lt. Judesses Catalogo clarified that there are no organized crime groups in the province as most of them have been disbanded already.
Catalogo said the cases of robbery incidents lately are perpetrated by new groups, who are not considered as organized.
He said they would usually prey on delivery vans.
Catalogo attributed the spike of robbery and theft incidents in the province to the fact that the “tiempos muertos” or the dead season is already nearing.
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 reported a decrease of crime incidents as of June 2022 by 2.13 percent compared to the same period last year.
The highly urbanized city of Bacolod also reported a 9.23 percent decrease in crime incidents as of this month despite the spate of killings that had occurred, the PRO-6 added.
In the entire Western Visayas, eight focus crimes also lessened to 1,278 as of June 2022 compared to 1,444 incidents for the same period last year.
These eight focus crimes are murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping of motor vehicle and carnapping of motor cycle.
PRO-6 Director Brigadier General Flynn Dongbo lauded the efforts of all unit commanders and all its personnel in the region for the collective contribution which resulted in the decline in the region's crime incidents.
Dongbo also reiterated to all policemen in the region to maximize their coordination and collaboration with the local government units and other stakeholders to enhance their crime prevention initiatives.*