Quiapo pickpockets, U-belt ‘crime clock’ test cops

Far from being safe havens, some churches and schools in Manila are high on the radar for crime “hot spots” in the metropolis.

“Even inside Quiapo church, after people stand up for the offertory, they would later report that they had been victimized by pickpockets,” said Supt. Ricardo Layug, commander of the Sta. Cruz station of the Manila Police District.

Layug made the remark in an interview last week after presenting a report to National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo Jr., which detailed and sampled the petty crimes reported in his area, which covers Plaza Miranda and Quiapo church.

In just one week alone, from July 20 to 26, the Plaza Miranda precinct listed six robbery-holdup incidents, three complaints against pickpockets and one case of snatching.

On Manila’s university belt, parts of which also fall under his jurisdiction, Layug said the daily “crime clock”—or the hours when most crimes are committed—covers the period from 12 noon to 4 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. “when students are coming in and out of school.”

Layug was just one of the police station commanders in the capital who may have to work extra against street crimes for being assigned in one of the five hot spots identified by the NCRPO.

These are Manila’s U-belt area, Kalentong Street in Mandaluyong city, Cubao area in Quezon City, Monumento in Caloocan City, and the stretch of Baclaran in Pasay and Parañaque cities.

Garbo attributed the high crime incidence to heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and ordered NCRPO teams to beef up local police forces in these areas. Jaymee T. Gamil