The crime rate index in Caloocan City has gone down by 32.8 percent this year, according to Mayor Oscar Malapitan.
Citing the report of Caloocan police chief Col. Dario Menor, Malapitan posted on Facebook Saturday that the city saw a decrease in the number of eight focus crimes, recording only 426 crime incidents from January to September 2020. This is lower than the 634 crime incidents recorded from January to September 2019.
The eight focus crimes are: murder, frustrated homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft, carnapping, motornapping and rape.
The low crime rate was recorded despite sensational killings that shocked Caloocan City residents in September alone.
On September 18, a decomposing body of a man was found on the roof of a house in Phase 8, Barangay Bagong Silang in North Caloocan with multiple gunshot wounds.
A week later, on September 27, two nursing graduates and a nursing student were found dead with multiple stab wounds inside a house under construction in Barangay 179 in Amparo Subdivision, also in North Caloocan.
Two of four persons of interest are already under police custody.
Also in September, the body of a missing transgender woman was found floating on a river in the same area where a corpse was discovered on a roof.
The local government said that amid the ongoing pandemic, "the Caloocan Police assured Malapitan that it would continue doing various operations, including those against illegal drugs, wanted persons and illegal firearms, among others."
"Nagpapasalamat ako sa bawat miyembro ng Caloocan City Peace and Order Council, sa ating mga kapulisan at iba pang mga kaagapay natin sa pagpapanatili ng peace and order sa Caloocan na kinakailangan natin lalo na sa mga panahong ito (I thank every member of the Caloocan City Peace and Order Council as well as our police for maintaining peace and order in Caloocan, which we need especially at this time)," Malapitan said in a statement.