by Franklin P. Gumapon
DIPOLOG CITY, Jan. 31 (PIA) - - A slight increase in the crime volume has been noted in this city last year.
Based on the crime statistics released on Monday by the City Police station headed by P/Supt. Joven Parcon, the crime volume in the city for 2011 went up by 11 percent from that of 2010.
Actual figures showed that in 2010, the city had a crime volume of 242 and this had increased to 268 in 2011 involving crimes against persons and properties as well as violations of special laws.
Of the 268 crimes recorded in the police ledger last year, 253 were reported solved, registering a crime solution efficiency of 94.4 percent.
Violations of special laws or non-index crimes like illegal drugs, illegal gambling, illegal logging and others accounted for 128. However, police records showed that majority of these were related to prohibited drugs.
It could be recalled that the city government here headed by Mayor Evelyn T. Uy initiated an all-out war on illegal drugs resulting in the arrest of a number of drug pushers including some members of the local press.
Presently, the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the city government of Dipolog have forged a strong alliance in fighting drug abuse.
In a related development, the “Barkada Kontra Droga” (BKD), a flagship program of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) has gone down to the barangay level with the PNP and the city government taking the lead. It aims to educate both the young and the adults on the ill-effects of drug abuse.
BKD has already conducted anti-drug abuse fora and seminars in the different barangays of the city, which were attended by students, out-of-school youth, parents, teachers, barangay officials and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) leaders. (FPG/PIA-Zamboanga del Norte)
