Davao Sur crime rate up; cops to be trained

DIGOS CITY—Police authorities here are scrambling to address the growing criminality, especially in the wake of an assessment that Davao del Sur topped the list of Southern Mindanao provinces with the highest volume of crime.

Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Llanera, Davao del Sur police director, said among the measures he had taken was to make intelligence officers undergo trainings and seminars on effective crime solution.

Based on data, Davao del Sur has the highest index crimes recorded when compared to that of Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

489 crimes

The Southern Mindanao police office did not provide figures for comparison but reported that for the first quarter of the year, there had been 489 index crimes recorded in Davao del Sur.

Of this figure, physical injury had the most number at 80 followed by murder with 38 cases.

Llanera said that of the more than 800 index and non-index crimes recorded, 176 were considered solved.

“The strengthening of intelligence gathering could lead to the solution of many of these crimes,” he said.

When he was sworn in as  winning gubernatorial candidate  following the 2013 elections, former Davao del Sur Rep. Claude Bautista vowed to make criminality a priority under his administration.

Orlando Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao