CHECKPOINTS, increased police visibility in identified crime-prone areas, and the police hotline stickers drive contributed to the decrease in crime volume in Lapu-Lapu City, said Lapu-Lapu City’s police chief yesterday.
These crime-deterrent programs helped in the reduction of the crime volume in the first quarter of the year with 462 cases compared to 541 cases in the same period last year, said Senior Supt. Lyndon Lawas, acting director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.
Of the 462 cases, 248 are index crimes or offenses against person and property such as willful homicide, forcible rape, robbery and burglary while 214 are non-index crimes or crimes with non-physical confrontation such as drug possession, drug seizure and driving under the influence.
Lawas also cited the decreased crime volume in May with 181 index crimes as compared to 212 cases in the same period last year.
He said theft and burglary cases made up most of the index crimes for the first quarter.
He cited the setting up of a police outpost in one of the most crime-prone areas in the city—the boundaries barangays Basak, Bankal, Pajac – helped reduce burglaries in these areas.
Police checkpoints also resulted in arrests of persons caught in possession of drugs and those driving under the influence, said Lawas.
Lawas also said that the police hotline sticker program also helped in deterring crimes.
He said that since the stickers were distributed starting April 30, Lapu-Lapu City police received 590 calls with police responding 496 of these calls leading to the arrest of some suspects.
“All the incidents reported most are solved and napugngan, base sa calls naay mga nadakpan and majority of the arrest are through the police response through the calls from hotline,” Lawas said.
The Police sa Barangay program, coordination of the police with the barangay police safety officers of barangays, and barangay intelligence network also helped in reducing crimes in the city, said Lawas./Correspondent Fe Marie D. Dumaboc