By: Jaimie Rose Aberia
Crime rate in Manila has significantly dropped by 38 percent this year, the Manila Police District (MPD) reported yesterday.
MPD Director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel said index crimes in the past 12 months decreased by 38.7 percent from a high of 5,474 cases in 2016 to only 3,393 in the current year.
Index crimes are crimes against persons and property such as murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, and car theft/carjacking, among others.
Street crimes such as armed robbery, holdups, and snatching have also went down.
MPD’s crime solution efficiency during the same period improved from 54.8 percent in 2016 to 67.5 percent this year. Six to seven out of 10 crimes have been solved by the city police force with the arrests of suspects and the filing of cases against them.
This, he said, is a remarkable improvement considering that crime solution efficiency of the 4,600-strong police force averages only at 38.05 percent in 2014 to 2015, and 24.55 percent in 2013 to 2014.
It is for this reason, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said, that MPD was chosen as this year’s Best Police District in Metro Manila by the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO).