Metro police chief disputes survey findings on crime reporting

Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol said yesterday victims of crimes are often discouraged from reporting to police not because of lack of trust in law enforcers, but because of the slow disposition of cases and low conviction rate in court.

Querol was reacting to a recent Pulse Asia survey, which found out that 80 percent of Filipinos victimized in recent months do not bother to report the crime.

"This is a wake-up call to the police and the criminal justice system," Querol said during the weekly radio program "Para Sa’yo... Bayan" of Vice President Noli de Castro.

While expressing serious concern over the public’s attitude toward crime reporting, Querol said he is not convinced that most of the victims fail to conatact the police since incidents reported through the hotline 2920 of the Philippine National Police and 117 of the Department of the Interior and Local Government increased by 15 percent last year.

Most of the cases reported were theft, snatching of bags and cell phones, vehicular accidents, robbery and physical violence.

Director Marcelo Ele, of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, said the survey failed to indicate significant number of cases reported at the barangay level then referred to and solved by police.

He said only 10 percent of those who reported crimes to police pursue the filing of charges against the suspects.

"It’s exceedingly slow. We really have to speed up the disposition of cases, even the small claims," Ele said.

The Pulse Asia survey also found out that criminality is not a major personal or national concern among Filipinos.