SWS: Number of families victimized by common crimes in Q1 down to 1.5M

The number of Filipino families victimized by common crimes in the first quarter of 2018 declined to 1.5 million, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) said on Thursday.

A survey conducted by the SWS from March 23-27 found that 6.6 percent or 1.5 million families fell victim to common crimes such as pickpocket or robbery of personal property, break-ins, carjacking and physical violence.

This was one point lower than 7.6 percent or 1,700,000 average in December 2017, but SWS said it’s .05 point above 6.1 percent annual average victimization of crimes for 2017.

The survey also showed that 6.1 percent or 1.4 million families lost property to street robbery, burglars (break-ins) or carjackers within the past six months.

Family with members hurt by physical violence declined to 0.6 percent from 0.8 percent in December 2017.

SWS noted that victimization by common crimes reported in SWS surveys was much higher than the number of crimes actually reported to the police.

“Except in March 2013 and June 2016 when it was at 10.5% and 11.4% respectively, victimization of families by any common crime was at single-digit levels from March 2012 to March 2018,” SWS said.

“Meanwhile, except in June 2016 when it was 10.9%, victimization of property crimes was also at single-digit levels from March 2012 to March 2018,” it continued.

SWS said the survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide.