BCPO: arrested persons decreased; target goals exceeded

The number of people arrested in Baguio City in 2019 has decreased by 14.2% compared to the number of those nabbed in 2018, according to the Baguio City Police Investigation and Operation Offices on Monday.

The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) data shows that around 1,142 people were arrested during 2018, but this number came down to only 1000 last year. The BCPO Investigation office reasons out that factors such as cooperation of the community and challenges on tracker teams may directly affect the increase and decrease of people being arrested.

“Crime solution and prevention are everybody’s work; hindi lang kaming mga pulis. Kapag mayroong nangyari at hindi nahuli, kami ang sisisihin, pero bakit hindi nila nireport agad? Dapat ang community tutulong sa pulis, at ang pulis tutulong sa community” said Police Captain (PCPT) Laborah May Nabunat.

(Crime solution and prevention are everybody’s work. It is not limited to us police people. We are being blamed whenever something bad happens and we couldn’t catch the suspects; yet, why didn’t they immediately report it? The community should help the police, and the police will also help the community.)

Despite the decrease, the BCPO stated that they have exceeded their 2019 target goal for “Most Wanted People.” From the intended 5% of 110 or simply 5.5 people, the BCPO have arrested 39 which gives them a 35.45% accomplishment rate. This is also the same with the number of arrested in the “Other Wanted” category wherein they were able to arrest 739 people compared to their target goal of 133.

Likewise, the number of people caught using illegal drugs are also relatively high compared to other places in Benguet. However, Nabutan exclaimed, “Mataas man yung numbers niyan, para sa akin positive pa rin. Ibig sabihin marami kaming nahuhuli,”

(The numbers might be high, but I still interpret it as something positive. It means we’re are able to capture a large number (of illegal drug users).”

PCPT Nabunat also elaborated that the age range of those who are usually caught using “shabu” are people around 25-45 years old, and those who use Marijuana are around 16-20 years old. They are usually intercepted by the police in the city’s central business area or around the 16 barangays handled by station 7.

Nabunat also noted that the most prevalent crimes in the city are robbery, theft, and physical injury.

by Agatha Mateo