DOLFO, GODYSON B.

2-DPA-C DPA 2208

Written Report # 2 – Policy Brief Proposal

Title: POLICY CREATING THE PHILIPPINE CRIME RESEARCH CENTER

The Background

Research is the most powerful tool in identifying the deeper causes of all social and natural phenomena.
Applying different approaches to research would lead to the proper verification of facts, the identification of existing
societal problems, and the development of new and verified ideas. As Mendonca (2009) stated, research is the
cornerstone of progress and development across various fields, shaping our understanding of the world, solving
complex problems, and driving innovations. Criminological research is one of its sub-fields that focuses mainly on
identifying the underlying causes, contributory factors, and effects of crime as a social phenomenon. The output of
this endeavor would serve as concrete evidence of what transpires in the community, the behavior and experiences
of individuals and groups of individuals, and the result of their interactions.
On the other hand, crime perpetuation nowadays is different, the manner of committing is no longer the
same in the previous era. One thing sure is that, the purpose of committing crime could be acquisitive or destructive
and the underlying reasons could possibly the same of those previously been committed or perpetuated.
In government agencies and bureaus, research unit is an indispensable one. It serves as the eyes and ears of
the former for their proactive activities like gathering of information for planning purposes, gathering of facts to
justify the need of adoption and implementation of a measure, assessing its effectiveness, the challenges encountered
during its implementation and comparing its effectiveness to the currently adopted and implemented measures.
These are some of the significance of research unit an agency or bureau.
The very purpose of this policy is the creation of a Philippine Crime Research Center (PCRC) with the
mandate of consolidating all the reported crimes in the country coming from different law enforcement agencies,
conduct research for the determination of underpinning cause of all crimes and giving priority to index crimes,
recommend measures for policy formulation or actions of appropriate agencies.

Discussion on the Identified Problem

Crime is a primordial problem in all societies. The typical result of crime includes the destruction of limbs,
life, or property that may also result in loss of productivity of the individuals affected, psychological trauma, and
disruption of societal order in general. The most significant effect of crime that the government must take seriously
is its economic and security effects. Preventing, reducing, and eradicating it cannot be addressed by a single agency
or by the government itself. The participation of every individual and the community is essential. It does not rest on
apprehending the perpetrator and charging him with appropriate criminal cases; once found guilty, he is penalized
by serving imprisonment in jail or paying the fine and the amount of damages incurred by the commission of the
criminal acts. Though the Philippine Constitution protects those charged with a crime and ensures the observance of
the due process of law through those agencies comprising the criminal justice system. The Republic Act 6975
ensures that it is “the policy of the State to promote peace and order and ensure public safety,” with the Philippine
National Police as the frontline in ensuring and effecting this state policy and with the aid of all other law
enforcement agencies mandated by law parallel with the same mission. However, crime is still present in society
regardless of its classification, cause of commission, the extent of effects, and whomever the perpetrator was. It
always leaves doubt about whether government agencies tasked with implementing the law, maintaining peace and
order, and correcting and rehabilitating offenders did their sworn duty or did their best to eradicate criminality.
Some of the questions left are: Is apprehending criminals and penalizing them the utmost measure in eradicating
crime? Is the government already satisfied with the reduction of crime rates? Are those measures in preventing it
effective? The existence of those unaddressed problems is due to the failure to investigate the aftermath of the crime
as a societal problem. Still, the government failed to address the reason why a person commits crime or why crime is
keep on increasing, because of its recurrence, not by perpetration of the same person but the other members of the
society. The justification of penalizing a guilty perpetrator to set an example to the general public for them not to
commit crime was not realized. Thus, this is the clear manifestation of the non-attainment of the objective of each
behavior regulating policy or the penalizing law that it should provide a preventative if not a suppressive effect.
On the other hand, our criminal justice system view all crimes as a personal act that violates existing law. While,
there is underpinning reason why an individual resorted to commission of crime.
In the current set-up, these government agencies and bureaus are generally performing their tasks after the
commission of crimes which we consider a reactive one. These happen whenever their preventive measures were
ineffective or not applicable. Thereafter, reporting follows. Each agency concern, has their own reporting system,
researches of the causes and effects of crime were also done through the initiatives of their respective agency or
bureau.
In United States of America, the Department of Justice through the National Institute of Justice created the
Crime Mapping Research Center for the purpose of computerized crime mapping to provide accurate information
about crime for policy formulation. (National Institute of Justice, 2025)
While in Kenya, their National Crime Research Centre (NCRC), a State Corporation under The
Ministry of Interior and National Administration established by an Act of Parliament, the National Crime Research
Act 1997 CAP 62 Laws of Kenya with the mandate to carry out research into the causes of crime, its prevention and
to disseminate the research findings and recommendations to Government Agencies concerned with the
administration of criminal justice. (NCRC, 2022)
Another in the European Union, the Union created the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre
(EFECC) as the Europol’s answer to the growing threats to the economy and integrity of our financial systems.
These threats include money laundering, corruption, widespread counterfeiting, fraud and tax fraud schemes that
target individuals, countries and companies. EFECC supports law enforcement (and relevant public authorities) in
their international financial crime investigations and aims at improving the recovery of criminal assets. (European
Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, 2022)
The need to consolidate all crime-related measures, actions, and reports by different law enforcement
agencies such as the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Bureau of
Investigation, and other agencies with the same mandate is to come-up holistic approach of addressing crimes by
targeting the primordial cause of it. The irony is that, the country do not have an agency tasked solely to conduct
research study of crimes that are reported and indexed in the specific law enforcement agency. The center for crime
research shall have the prime duty to study the government actions as to how they address criminality, assess its
effectiveness, societal acceptance and satisfaction, and others attributed to the said government measure. The
purpose is also to point out the underlying causes of the commission of the crime and, after such, recommend doable
solutions for its suppression.
Thus, the creation of Philippine Crime Research Center (PCRC) is a must nowadays.

Identified Key Stakeholders

The key stakeholders of this center are the following with their expected responsibility on the table:
1. The Philippine National Police. As the primary law enforcement agency in addressing internal security issues,
conducting crime prevention, investigation, arrest of criminals and filing of appropriate cases, has to maintain
accurate records of crimes reported to their office. Make it available by sharing it to the center for purposes of
consolidating and conduct of research on the reported crimes.
2. The National Bureau of Investigation. As the prime agency in investigating crimes and identification of criminals
in the country, is responsible of keeping their crime statistics accurate and be shared to the center for purposes of
consolidation and conduct of research on the reported or investigated crimes.
3. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. As the prime agency mandated to enforce drugs laws, apprehend drug
law violators and file appropriate cases, is responsible of sharing their data on reported and investigated drug related
crimes.
4. The Philippine Center for Transnational Crime is responsible to share their data on reported investigated
transnational crimes.
5. Other Law Enforcement Agencies with paralleled mandates, to share information on reported and investigated
crimes in their respective offices.
6. Commissions on Human Rights shall serve as advisory agency.
7. The Department of Justice shall serve as advisory agency.
8. The Department of Interaction and Local Government shall serve as advisory agency.
9. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall serve as advisory agency.
10. The Department of Transportation shall serves as advisory agency.
11. The Department of Tourism shall serve as advisory agency.
12. Other Cabinet shall serve also as advisory agencies, on the relevancy of issue at hand.

Relevance to Public Administration

Crime as a social phenomenon, its prevention and suppression is everybody’s concern. A public
administrator and a legislator cannot deny the fact that one of the tasks in public administration is to confront and
provide solution to crimes. These crimes and its existence in the place or territory to which subject for public
administration creates a negative impression to the place and the administrator as well of those who are authorized
in maintaining social order. It creates a stigma that peace and order in that particular place is poorly maintained and
perhaps not a primary concern of the administrator. On the other-hand, crime is a result of deficient or faulty law
enforcement and a perfect is a result of imperfect criminal investigation. Thus, all of these may be attributed to the
question how effective and efficient public administration is?
In public administration, the public is the client, and the service provider are those who are working in the
government. Applying the power of the state, to police the public, regulated their behavior and provide standards
expected of them to observe, comply and lived with it. Crime still happen and committed by not the member of the
community. While the government has nothing to do, but to address this concern, provide remedies if not a concrete
solution.
The possible creation of Philippine Crime Research Center is a significant help for effective and efficient
public administration. As to the reporting of crimes, there shall be a centralized agency handling crime reports and
an agency to conduct re-investigation through research for proper determination of the real cause of its perpetuation.
It could also narrow down reporting agency to the Office of the President as to the crime statistics is concern. Their
shall only be one agency providing and announcing to the public crime statistics, as well as identifying the index and
non-indexed crimes which are essential in policy formulation specially of those policies relevant to public peace,
order and country’s internal security. By understanding the causes of crime, and pinpointing its underpinning cause,
it could help develop evidence-based policies that eradicate crime and improve public safety.

Related Literature and Studies

The following related literature and studies would expound better understanding on the need and
significance of the creation of the Philippine Crime Research Center.
In a study conducted in Ilocos Region by Alasaas (2022) he found out that reporting of crime to the police
is a behavior that is dependent on several factors. Reporting of crime to the police is a behavior that is dependent on
several factors. Depending on the factors, the crime can either be reported or not. Victims decide whether to seek
help from the police, to seek a private solution, to re-evaluate the situation, or to do nothing at all. The factors that
may influence a person to report or not to report a crime reflects societal problems hounding not only the police but
the community as a whole. The victim’s decision to report their crime victimization is necessary for the quest for
more balanced yet effective measures to address actual crime situations.

While Kn and Perera (2021) stated that by the time number of reported crime cases get increases. But law
enforcement finds out there is a gap between reported crimes and not reported crimes. Numerous reasons may
involve for this gap. It is not a good thing to giving a chance for criminals to stay safe in the community as innocents,
and that motivates criminals to do more crimes. Because of that, the community at high risk of being a victim.
 Further in the study of Barrao and Mastroianni (2024) entitled Creating Solvability With Real-Time Crime
Centers (RTCCs), they found out that with this real time crime centers activities significantly increase the likelihood
that a case is solved, and this effect is primarily due to RTCC analysts’ ability to locate and analyze video associated
with the case. When associated video was located, cases were 442% more likely to be solved when controlling for
other co-variates.

Timely, effective are accurate crime reporting could best help law enforcement agencies to respond. While
for public administrator, could best provide better solutions by identifying the ultimate cause of the perpetuation of
crime. For policy makers, better understanding on the causes of crime for a doable, timely and a policy that could
address the ever rooted problem of community which is crime.

References

Alasaas, JP. 2022. To Speak or Remain Silent: The Case of Reporting Crime Victimization to the Police. North
Luzon Philippines State College, Philippines. ISSN: 2961-3035 I Volume 2 I Issue 1 I October 2022

Barrao, L. and Mastroianni, C. 2024. Creating Solvability With Real-Time Crime Centers (RTCCs): Impacts on
Homicide and Shooting Investigations. Sage Journal, https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611124129014

European Financial and Economic Crime Centre - EFECC - European Union Agency for Law Enforcement
Cooperation. Available at https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/european-financial-and-economic-crime-
centre-efecc. Accessed on February 23, 2025.

Kn and Perera 2021. Impact of Reporting Crime System to Enhance Effectiveness of Police Service. International
Journal of Computer Trends and Technology. 69(5)1-5)

Mendonca, Sandro 2009. Brave Old World: Accounting for 'High-Tech' Knowledge in 'Low-Tech' Industries.
Research Policy. 38:470-482.

National Crime Research Center. Available at https://www.crimeresearch.go.ke/. Accessed on February 23, 2025.

National Institute of Justice. Available at https://nij.ojp.gov/. Accessed on February 23, 2025.

Republic Act 6975. Available at https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1990/ra_6975_1990.html. Accessed on