Self-reported crime victimization dips to lowest since June 2018, but burglary fears rise

The rate of Filipino families who reported being victimized by common crimes went down to its lowest since June 2018, but the percentage of Filipinos who fear falling prey to burglary has increased, a poll conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS survey, conducted from September 27 to 30, revealed that 5.6 percent or 1.4 million families have reported being victims of common crimes such as pickpocket, robbery of personal property, break-ins, carnapping, and physical violence.

The rate is down from 7 percent in June and the lowest it has been since June 2018 when it reached 5.3 percent.

The same SWS poll, however, showed that the percentage of Filipino adults who fear being victimized by burglary went up to 59 percent from 55 percent in June this year.

In addition, the SWS poll found that 47 percent are fearful of walking the streets at night, slightly up from the 46 percent in June.

Moreover, 38 percent of those surveyed said they noticed many drug addicts in their neighborhood—the same percentage in June.

The same SWS poll showed that 3.4 percent or 846,000 of families were victimized by street robbery in the past six months, while 2.6 percent or 640,000 families were victimized by break-ins or down from 3.3 percent  in June.

Among families owning any type of motor vehicle, the SWS survey found that 0.3 percent (est. 40,000) were robbed of it in the past six months, down by 0.1 point from 0.4 percent in June.

On the other hand, the SWS survey found that 0.5 percent of families had family members hurt by physical violence within the past six months, which is also a decrease from 1.2% percent in June.

The September 2019 SWS poll used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide, with 600 each in Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and 300 each in Metro Manila and the Visayas.

The sampling error margin for national percentage is 2.3 percent. — BM, GMA News