Car theft cases down 55% — NCRPO report

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) recorded a total of 74 car theft cases in Metro Manila for the month of July, down by 55.52 percent from the 166 incidents posted last year.

It marked the first time this year that monthly car theft incidents dropped below 100.

The NCRPO also reported that no bank robberies, kidnapping and hijacking cases were reported in Metro Manila for the month of July.

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas Jr., NCRPO intelligence chief, credited the drop in car theft cases to the joint effort of the local police units, Traffic Management Group (TMG) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

"The NCRPO and the TMG intensified the campaign against car theft syndicates, resulting in the neutralization of gang members while the LTO tightened measures in the registration of second-hand cars," Rojas said in an interview.

He said police visibility patrols and the deployment of additional patrol cars to "car theft-prone" areas helped deter car theft groups from striking in Metro Manila.

Records culled by the NCRPO showed that a total of 24 cars were seized at gunpoint or through the use of intimidation.

The rest were stolen while they were parked or left unattended.

Rojas said 133 cars were stolen in January, 149 in February, 137 in March, 103 in April, 151 in May and 114 in June.

For the month of July, a total of 1,404 crime incidents were recorded in Metro Manila, down by 0.43 percent from the 1,410 listed for the same month last year.

Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol said the decrease in crime incidents in Metro Manila last month was due to the deployment of more policemen near schools and a series of follow-up operations against criminal syndicates.

Querol noted that the NCRPO’s pet program Nightwatch was responsible for a 50 percent drop in night crime incidents last month.

Rojas noted that the rainy season was also a factor. "Halos nasa bahay kasi ang mga tao dahil sa malakas na ulan at bagyo kaya’t walang opportunity ang mga kriminal na mambiktima."

Records showed that at least 10,432 crime incidents were recorded in Metro Manila for the first seven months of the year, up from the 9,830 cases listed for the same period last year.

Of the total, 9,614 cases were solved for a 92.16 percent crime solution efficiency (CSE).

Rojas noted that of the 1,404 cases recorded for the month of July, 803 (57 percent) were index crimes, while 601 (43 percent) were non-index crimes.

Robbery and theft cases accounted for 65 percent of the non-index crimes, closely followed by physical injury with 185 cases (22 percent), murder with 40 cases, homicide with 37 and rape with 32.

The non-index crime total for July was at 601 incidents, down 6.68 percent from the 644 cases recorded during the same period last year.

Rojas said there were no kidnapping incidents, bank robberies or hijacking cases reported in Metro Manila for the month of July.

A total of 1,377 persons with standing arrest warrants were arrested with the Southern Police District (SPD) accounting for 524 arrests. The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested 318 wanted persons, Eastern Police District (EPD) with 240, Northern Police District (NPD) with 171 and the Manila Police District (MPD) with 124.

The NCRPO conducted a total of 293 operations against illegal gambling, resulting in the arrest of 788 persons and the filing of 200 cases in court.