The total crime rate for 2020 was reduced by almost 40 percent mainly due to the quarantine measures implemented by the government since March 15, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday.

Maj. Gen. Marni Marcos, head of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), said that from 68,214 criminal incidents recorded in 2019, the figure was done to 41,269 cases last year, or a drop of 39.59 percent.

"The total crime volume for 2020 is significantly lower than that of the previous year. The downtrend on the crime volume for the succeeding months continued as people adapted to the new normal and observed quarantine-related protocols," said Marcos.

Cases of theft have the biggest decline with 49.81 percent, or from 23,097 cases in 2019 to 11,593; followed by robbery cases with 48.39 percent, or from 9,967 cases in 2019 to 5,144 cases last year; and, carnapping of motorcycles with 47.36 percent, or from 2,127 cases to 1,914.

Murder cases reduced by 13.21 percent, or from 6,319 cases in 2019 to 5,484 cases last year; homicide with 25.60 percent, or from 1,793 cases to 1,334; and, rape cases with 19.69 percent decline, or from 9,915 cases to 7,963.

Marcos said the significant drop in crimes was due to the implementation of enhanced community quarantine, which contained  the movement of the people, including both the criminals and their potential victims. 

“Assessment on the crime environment is the general decrease in all eight focused crimes caused by the limitation of the movement of public during the enhanced quarantine,” said Marcos.

On the other hand, the official said crime solution efficiency  for the year 2020 improved as compared to the previous year.

Based on the DIDM data, the crime solution efficiency in 2019 was 76.37 percent compared 79.74 percent in 2020 with 3.37 variance increase.