RP better crime solver than US, Japan?

MANILA, Philippines — Police records show that in 2009, the Philippines had a higher crime solution rate compared to other countries like United States and Japan.

In the previous year, the country reported a 88.37-percent crime solution efficiency, which was higher than that of US (32.11 percent) and Japan (31.70 percent).

But the Philippine National Police said this was not an accurate picture of the crime trend in the country.

Director for Investigation and Detection Management Raul Bacalzo said that some crimes in the country were not reported.

For index crimes (or heinous crimes), only some nine percent were reported, while for non-index crimes, only 15 percent were reported in 2009.

Several of the incidents were left filed in police blotters and failed to be included in the main crime database of the PNP.

Because of this, the PNP has introduced a new method of crime recording that would seek to correct the “dysfunctions” in police procedures involving crime recording.

Known as the Uniform Crime Periodic Report (Ucper), the new program aims to give a more accurate picture of the crime trends in the country and to make it at par with international standards.

Under the old crime reporting system, known as the Police Regional Office Periodic Report (Proper), crimes reported and noted in police blotters are automatically included in the database of the PNP.

“The police blotter shall be the sole source and basis of crime data, statistics, and report for purposes of uniformity. There is no discretion on the part of the investigator to report only what they deem to be worth reporting,” Bacalzo said.

He added that under Proper, some police investigators and even police chiefs “under report” crimes in a bid to “show that his area of responsibility was that peaceful and the crime incidents were manageable.”

With Ucper, the definition of index crimes has been modified to include murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, robbery, theft, car theft, cattle rustling, parricide, and infanticide, Bacalzo said.

Because of this change in the crime reporting process, Bacalzo said the PNP expects the crime trend for 2009 to increase mainly because of the addition of unreported cases.

Bacalzo added that crime solution efficiency of the country was expected to decrease because only cases where a suspect has been arrested and charged would be considered solved.

“This is done to institute necessary measures with the aim of coming up with an accurate system of reporting crime incidents and conducting thorough analysis of the crime situation,” Bacalzo said. –Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net