Police task force wants curfew to be part of "new normal" to cut crime rate
Curfew implementation should be part of the “new normal” in the country as crime incidents went down by 61 percent since the enforcement of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID-19 Shield commander said on Sunday.
In a radio interview, Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar said for the past 54 days, they recorded 61 percent decline in crimes nationwide or 67 percent in Luzon, 58 percent in Visayas and 51 percent in Mindanao.
“Before ECQ, we registered 150 crimes per day in the whole country in so far as the eight focused crimes is concerned but during ECQ it decreased to 50 per day. We started at 88 last March 17 to 32 yesterday (May 9)… the challenge is how to sustain this,” Eleazar said.
Based on JTF data, from March 17 to May 9, it recorded 3,166 crime incidents compared to 8,135 from January 23 to March 16.
For curfew violators, the task force already warned 105,445 individuals, 14,576 were fined; and 47, 257 were arrested.
“The result of our curfew is good. Even if the community quarantine is removed, I think it’s a good intervention that there is curfew if you are a non-worker… this should be part of the new normal,” he said.
Under the general community quarantine (GCQ), Eleazar said police visibility will also lessen the opportunity to commit a crime as cops will accost those who are not authorized to go outside their residences.
“So in essence, even if would be criminals will have a motive (to commit crimes) they will not have an opportunity (to do so),” he said.
“What we expect once ECQ is downgraded to GCQ is more establishments and sectors will operate because partially we are reopening the economy. The number of authorized persons that will go out will increase so there will be higher opportunities for crimes but the police are ready,” he added.
Part of the new normal is wearing face mask but the police official said they are now studying how they can adopt on the new normal in terms of arresting wanted criminals.
“The investigation (and) operation are part of the study… we have to adjust, adopt on this new (normal) but we still have intelligence monitoring… So more than ever the technology, information and communication technology will be fully utilized by our organization,” he said.
Eleazar said the Philippine National Police is also preparing for the “new normal” in terms of its administration process.
“Also on the administrative side, pertaining to recruitment, training, promotion, all aspects of policing are now being adjusted or modified to fit in on the new normal,” he said.
The ECQ, which started last March 17, may be be downgraded by May 15 to general community quarantine. Ella Dionisio/DMS
