The Zamboanga City Police Office is still investigating 14 of the total 38 shooting incidents that occurred in the city for the period January to June 18 this year, according to its spokesperson Col. Paul Andrew Cortes.

Col. Cortes said 11 shooting incidents have been cleared and 13 have been solved, thus giving the ZCPO a crime clearance efficiency of 92.09% and crime solution efficiency of 71.47% in peace and order indicator.

In public safety, the ZCPO has achieved a crime clearance efficiency of 98.84% and a crime solution efficiency of 88.86%, according to Cortes.

Further, the crime statistics showed that for the period under review the crime of theft registered the highest number cases with 89, of which 9 are still under investigation, followed by rape with 69 cases but only 1 under investigation.

Meanwhile, Col. Cortes told the press briefing Monday that the checkpoint operations are being conducted 24/7 following the schedule of simultaneous and random checkpoints, in addition to the so-called decoy checkpoints established at least 100 meters away from the regular checkpoints for the exit and entry points and/or diversion road of suspected criminals who intend to elude the checkpoints.

Police operatives in full battle gear and equipped with radios are also deployed in a buddy-buddy system after every checkpoint operation, covering as far as Barangay San Roque down to Sta. Maria, Baliwasan, Canelar, Tumaga, Tugbungan and Talon-Talon, among other areas of coverage.

Col. Cortes added that “Oplan Bakal” or “Oplan Sita,” a campaign against loose firearms, is also being intensified in areas of convergence, pub houses and along sidewalks or roadways where people would converge.-[Vic Larato]