Cagayan crimes down, special law violations up

POLICE Col. Ariel N. Quilang reports to local media his accomplishment during his first year of service as the provincial director of Cagayan province.

By Oliver T. Baccay

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan - - Crime in this province increased due to enforcement of special laws related to Covid-19 pandemic, the provincial director of the Cagayan Police Provincial Office said.

    Col. Ariel N. Quilang, during a special press conference on his first year of service accomplishment as the provincial director of CPPO, said total crime incidents went up to 5, 436 for the period Nov. 6, 2019 to Nov. 5, 2020, a 125 percent increase as compared to the 2, 418 cases recorded in the same period covering 2018 to 2019.

    However, he said the non-index crimes contributed much to the increase of the cases with 4, 820, a 265 percent growth rate compared to the 1, 320 cases in the previous period. Of this, 4,125 were due to the strict enforcement of special laws related to the pandemic.

    "Our index crimes went down from 516 in the previous period to 274 this period, incurring 47 percent decrease," Quilang said.

Among the index crimes, rape cases topped the list with 65, followed by murder with 61, physical injuries with 49, theft-40, carnapping-21, homicide-20, and robbery with 19 cases in the whole year period.

    Despite this, Quilang said they need to further enhance the beat patrol system and strengthen the crime prevention measures to continue to neutralize crime perpetrators in the province.

    "We believe that we have achieved these because we activated our quick reactionary team in every police station and we also built good rapport with the community through the adoption of the various programs of our regional director and our chief PNP," Quilang said.

    He further urged public to help in the attainment of a peaceful and orderly province. -- PIA 2-Cagayan