Crimes in Bacolod down by 16% in 2023

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) reported a 16.26 percent or 224 decrease in the total number of criminal incidents in 2023 than in 2022.

Based on the data of the BCPO, 1,153 incidents were reported last year compared to 1,377 cases in 2022.

For the eight focus crimes or crimes against persons or properties, theft topped the list with 62 cases, followed by rape with 47, murder with 16, robbery with 12, homicide with 9, and physical injury and motorcycle carnapping with 7 each.

No carnapping was reported last year compared to two incidents in 2022.

Police Station 2 topped the list with the most crimes at 188, followed by Police Station 6 at 159, Police Station 3 at 142, Police Station 1 at 135, Police Station 8 at 123, Police Station 7 at 114, Police Station 4 at 100, Police Station 5 at 94, Police Station 9 at 56, and Police Station 10 at 42.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie Brillo, administrative officer for the office of the City Director of the BCPO, said that when a police station has the most number of crimes, this does not mean the ineffectiveness of the station against crime prevention, as this also includes their accomplishments against criminalities and special law violations.

Brillo said that as for the total crime volume, the factors that contributed to its decrease were the initiatives and best practices of the BCPO for crime solution and crime prevention.

He noted that police presence in streets really helped a lot in the deterrence of crimes here.