MAMANG PULIS -- A NATIONAL Index Crime Rate of 14.92 this year from a baseline of 16.53 in 2010. This is the main priority program of Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome, which will be undertaken thru the implementation of major anti-criminality campaigns and crime solution programs nationwide.

In a directive, Gen. Bartolome ordered the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management headed by Director Samuel B. Diciano to supervise together with the Directorate for Operations under Director Leocadio SC Santiago Jr. the massive police anti-criminality drive particularly in accounting for wanted persons in the country.

Maintaining the dictum that “more criminals behind bars and more policemen in patrol means much safer streets,” Bartolome said accounting for wanted crime offenders particularly those involved in heinous crimes will be a major thrust of the 140,000-strong national police this year.

The PNP chief noted that the steady decline in crime trend over the past two years could be attributed to the arrest of more than 40,000 wanted criminals during the past 24 months.

In a report to President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, Gen. Bartolome said the 40,653 offenders wanted by the law for involvement in various criminal cases were rounded up by different police units in line with its continuing operation to account for wanted persons dubbed LOI Manhunt “Charlie” by the PNP.

The Chief PNP said a decreasing trend was recorded from a Total Crime Volume of 502,665 cases in 2009 to only 246,958 in 2011, indicating a steady decline in the commission of crime with an average monthly decrease of 3.57 % until the end of 2011.

Bartolome reported to the Chief Executive that effective measures to prevent and control crime have been put in place in the form of increased police visibility in crime prone areas thru improved police-to-population ratio and enhanced crime-suppression capability of police units.

In particular, he said that there was a significant decrease in car theft cases nationwide over the past two years. 

PNP records showed a peak in carnapping in 2009 with 1,903 incidents and 2,200 incidents in 2010 before going down to only 966 incidents in 2011.

The PNP attributed the sharp dip in carnapping cases to interdiction and market denial operations for resale of stolen cars and car parts, and the recent neutralization of a big carnapping syndicate responsible for almost 20% of carnapping cases in the country.