The Limitation of Crime and Crime Prevention in Capiz

ABSTRACT

One essential element in improving police effectiveness is reducing response time through
developing command-and-control systems for metropolitan departments, installing police
callboxes for public use, and creating single telephone numbers for each large department.
Philippine courts would become more efficient in processing criminal cases with the
establishment of a second Grand Jury. Stricter gun control laws, juvenile delinquency prevention
programs, and general police-initiated crime prevention efforts could reduce the opportunities for
crime. While the Philippine correctional system differs, there is a growing movement toward
rehabilitation of adult and juvenile offenders.

INTRODUCTION

According to Police Regional Office 6 Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Arnel Solis, in a
press report, the significant decrease by 12.74 percent or 91 incidents of the eight focus crimes
during the first quarter this year signifies that Western Visayas continues to be generally
peaceful. He revealed that from January to March this year, PRO6 recorded a total of 623 cases
which is lower compared to the 714 cases during the same period of last year. “The 8-focus
crimes comprised of murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping – motor
vehicle, and carnapping-motorcycle,” Solis explained, pointing out that all the provinces and
cities’ eight focus crimes decreased except for Capiz and Bacolod City with a minimal increase.
Comparatively during the same period last year, he noted that the province of Aklan recorded 60
cases in 2021 and reduced to 47 in 2022; Antique from 48 to 41; Capiz from 70 to 84; Guimaras
from 23 to 20; Iloilo Province from 152 to 134; Negros Occidental from 161 to 145; Bacolod
City from 70 to 71; and Iloilo City from 130 to 81.
Whether or whether specific individuals are the direct victims of crime, criminality can
nevertheless have an impact on entire communities. Antisocial behavior, for instance, can have a
negative impact on local environments and safety perceptions, while a fear of crime can hinder
social interaction and weaken a community.

BACKGROUND
Crime Prevention – Crime prevention involves any activity by an individual or group, public or
private, which attempts to eliminate crime prior to it occurring or before any additional activity
results. By drawing on the public health model, some theorists have distinguished between
primary crime prevention, secondary crime prevention and tertiary crime prevention.
Crime Reduction - Crime reduction is concerned with diminishing the number of criminal events
and the consequences of crime. Crime reduction is applied within the bandwidth of an available
resource inputs and needs to be considered as an action that brings net benefits, fear of crime and
the impact of other programs that may have contributed to any specific crime reduction activity.
Crime reduction promotes a spirit of optimism that actions towards a problem will reduce crime
or reduce the seriousness of criminal events … it aims to intervene directly in the events and
their causes (Chainey and Ratcliffe, 2005, p. 19).
Crime Control - Crime control considers that crime has already happened and that some
management of these criminal activities is required to ensure that it does not spiral out of control.
It points to the need for maintenance of a problem, one where crime is kept to a tolerable level,
and not to a situation where crime can be prevented (Chainey and Ratcliffe, 2005, p. 18-19).

EVALUATION OF THE STUDY

Situational crime prevention refers to how, in certain situations, adaptations can be made to
prevent criminal acts. It involves looking at what crimes people commit, and where they commit
them, and what can be done in that situation to prevent the crimes from happening. These
measures can be very popular with councils and businesses as they can be effective at a relatively
low cost (compared with employing security guards, for example). As we shall see, there are
several criticisms of situational crime prevention, but few of them relate to the direct interests of
the individuals or organizations seeking to protect their property for whom these are appealing
options. To effectively reduce crime, it is necessary to transform and reorganize government and
facilitate real community participation. We need to weave a new social fabric, robust enough to
withstand the stresses of rapid change in a new-born society. To expect this to happen too
quickly is to sabotage proper planning and solid construction of a new criminal justice
machinery.

PROPOSE SOLUTION/CHANGE

Recognizing the multiple causes of crime and as the custodian of the United Nations standards
and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, UNODC promotes strategies, plans, and
program. which are multi-sectorial, multi-disciplinary, and which favors civil society
participation. Such strategies and action plans are underpinned by the basic principles for the
prevention of crime (Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime, ECOSOC Resolution 2002/13,
Annex).
Government leadership at all levels is required to create and maintain an institutional framework
for effective crime prevention.
Socio-economic development and inclusion refer to the need to integrate crime prevention into
relevant social and economic policies, and to focus on the social integration of at-risk
communities, children, families, and youth.
Cooperation and partnerships between government ministries and authorities, civil society
organizations, the business sector, and private citizens are required given the wide-ranging nature
of the causes of crime and the skills and responsibilities required to address them.
Sustainability and accountability can only be achieved if adequate resources to establish and
sustain programms and evaluation are made available, and clear accountability for funding,
implementation, evaluation and achievement of planned results is established.
Knowledge base strategies, policies and programms need to be based on a broad
multidisciplinary foundation of knowledge, together with evidence regarding specific crime
problems, their causes, and proven practices

RECOMMENDATION

Developmental:
A form of early intervention, developmental crime prevention seeks to address the early causes
of criminality. Reducing community and individual risk factors and increasing protective factors,
helps to prevent crime later in life.
The most celebrated examples of developmental crime prevention include parenting
programmes, school enrichment initiatives like skills training, pre-school regimes, and
improvements in transition to school arrangements.

Community / Social:
Strengthening neighbourhoods helps prevent crime. Local communities that have strong bonds
and where people know each other are generally less prone to experience crime. Enhancing
‘social capital’ or the relationships between people can be beneficial in protecting people from
crime.
Community building activities, provision of welfare services and increasing community support
groups all help to enhance the sense of community and can contribute to the prevention of crime.
Situational:
Stopping the opportunities for crime is an effective way of preventing crime. Increasing the risks
of detection, reducing the rewards for offending and increasing the difficulty of offending are all
ways to prevent crime. Situational crime prevention can be as simple as installing locks and
alarms, increasing surveillance through lighting and making buildings harder to enter, damage or
hide near.

Law Enforcement / Criminal Justice:

This form of crime prevention is associated with the criminal justice system – police, courts and
prisons – and is the most commonly understood form of crime prevention.
Problem-oriented policing can help prevent recurring problems requiring a policing response
through detailed analysis of crime problems and inter-agency responses; community-oriented
policing is a strategy for encouraging the public to act as partners with the police in preventing
and managing crime; treatment programs offered through court processes can address causes of
crime; rehabilitation programms in prison can prevent re-offending.