BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - The leadership of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) recently formed a specialized tracker team to address the increasing rate of robbery, theft and other cases involving crimes against property. In an interview with the Manila Bulletin, Senior Supt. David Q. Lacdan, BCPO director, said the group composed of elite law enforcers, will give special attention to the rising crime rate in the city to ensure the eventual reduction of crimes, especially with the onset of the Yuletide Season. Police records showed there were 100 incidents of theft and 87 robbery cases in the different parts of the city in a span of only two months. However, physical injuries topped the crimes being committed in the city but theft and robbery incidents are the second and third ranking crimes being committed in the different parts of the city. For the same two-month period, police operatives were able to arrest 74 suspects involved in the crimes against property committed in various dates and places within the areas of jurisdiction of Baguio's Finest. 10 persons were arrested for being involved in ''salisi,'' nine were nabbed for theft, 24 were collared for robbery with violence, three for robbery in band, one for robbery with force upon things, and 55 for pick pocketing.
Out of the total number of arrested individuals, 59 cases were filed in court while the rest were either amicably settled or eventually dropped since victims refuse to file cases due to the hustle that they need to go through when they pursue the case. Furthermore, Lacdan explained that the victims do not pursue the suspects for as long as they recover the property stolen or are able to receive the amount corresponding to the value of the property taken from them. Besides the lack of interest on the part of the complainants, police are constrained not to file the cases because of insufficiency of pieces of evidence and no witness who will testify to the facts of the commission of the crime. (Dexter A. See)
