Neighbor Edie was kind enough to attend the August SFPD Ingleside Monthly Community Meeting for us, and she typed up some excellent notes that contain lots and lots of valuable crime-prevention tips. Read the whole thing and you will be wiser and safer:

Ingleside Police District Monthly Community Meeting
August 20, 2013
Captain’s Report by Captain Tim Falvey

STATISTICS
Ingleside is the third safest district in San Francisco to live and work in!

Homicides – Down 62% (There were 14 homicides YTD in 2012, and 5 in 2013).

Unfortunately, there was a shooting Monday night, at the intersection of Sunnydale and Cora. A car was fired upon, and the driver and one of his two passengers were hit. Fortunately, both survived. The assailants are unidentified at the time of this meeting.

SFPD has a violence reduction team that can be deployed along with gang task force for a major event like a shooting. Gang injunctions are still enforceable for specific locations, however, a judge recently decided that the police can’t enforce No Trespassing signs on public housing, making it difficult to arrest people who are hanging out and refuse to leave.

Robberies – up 30% over last year YTD and arrests are up even higher. It shouldn’t be a surprise that 62% of robberies this year involved cell phones! High theft areas are BART stations and buses, so in September the police will implement an education outreach campaign distributing flyers at BART and on major bus lines to advise the cellphone-using public to stay alert and teach them what not to do.

For instance, a woman had her phone stolen while was walking down the street talking to her mom via FaceTime. She didn’t see the thief at all. So put your phones away and pay attention, please!

Burglaries – down 5% YTD. First 6 months, they averaged 44 per month, this month we’ve had around 30. Police are reviewing the criminal history of recent parole violators to try and get some of the burglars off the street.

In Bernal there have been several Cortland corridor burglaries—homes with an unlocked door on the side of garage or a door with a broken lock. Make sure you lock all your doors and windows, check that your outdoor lights are all working and turned on at night, and trim back your vegetation to increase visibility. SF SAFE can send someone to do a security check of your home. Call 553-1984 to get on the appointment list.

Auto Theft – down 1% from last year. Earlier thefts were mostly older Hondas and Acuras, now Saturns are being stolen. Again, police looking for auto thieves on probation as likely culprits.

Auto Boosts (break-ins) – up 52% YTD. There’s been a recent and ongoing problem at the end of Bosworth where it turns into Glen Park at O’Shaughnessy. There were auto boostings every Friday from 9am to noon, till an officer was stationed there, when they stopped. Remember, don’t leave anything in your car – including your garage door opener.

Personal or Other Thefts – (person leaves phone or laptop on table, purse on barstool, to go to bathroom, comes back and its gone). Doesn’t happen as much here as downtown, but remember not to leave any personal property behind, no matter where you are.

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES:

1. Tues Aug. 6: National Night Out. 220 people attended. Thanks to Stephen Currier and the Community Police Advisory Board for a great job.

2. Kids are now back in school and the police hope everyone will focus on safety around the schools. Parents, now’s the time to teach your children to be safe – remind them to watch out for drivers and cyclists, and not to cross in the middle of the block or run while crossing the street. Pedestrians, pay attention to where you’re walking, and never assume that drivers are going to stop for you, even when you have the right of way. Drivers, remember the speed zone around schools is now 15 mph.

3. August 17 to October 26th: Saturday at the Park. 7 free concerts on Saturdays at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McLaren Park.

4. August 30, SF Police Academy graduation: 50 new officers will graduate.

Coincidentally, about 50 officers are expected to be promoted to Sgt, so the 50 new Academy graduates will step into their (large) shoes. The Ingleside will get six of them.

5. In September, the Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) is signing up new NERT-trained civilian volunteers to aid law enforcement during times of disaster.

GUEST SPEAKER: Recology: Chris Levaggi, Recology Golden Gate

The city of San Francisco is the best composter and recycler in North America: 80% of our stuff goes into the blue or green bin, goes to Goodwill, or is given away, reused, or repurposed for something else, and we’re aiming for Zero waste by 2020.

Zero Waste creates new jobs to pick up and manage the recycling and composting, provides compost for our gardens, and reduces greenhouse gases, but it requires a new pricing structure to pay for the work that’s actually done.

What’s affecting the pricing? If you’ve noticed the trucks coming at different times, it’s because they used to send out one truck, now two trucks go to every residence (one for recycling / garbage, and one for compost), with the routes restructured accordingly. Three trucks cost $1 million, and biodiesel fuel costs are increasing. Labor costs are the largest expense, and since garbage collection is one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs, insurance and healthcare costs have increased.

What were / are the rates? The old rate for a 32-gallon black can, picked up once a week, was $27.91. Blue and green cans were picked up at no charge. As of August 1st, the new monthly fee structure for residential customers includes:

$5.00 base rate per dwelling unit + $25.08 for a 32-gallon black bin (landfill) +

$2.00 for a 32-gallon blue bin (recycling) + $2.00 for a 32-gallon green bin (compost) = $34.08

If you use a smaller landfill bin, or a larger recycling or compost bin, rates will go down or up accordingly.

Recology also does many education and outreach programs to educate the public’s understanding of recycling. These include school programs (so kids can teach their parents), tours of the recycling facility, an artist in residence program-creating found-art projects (with an exhibit on September 20th), and representatives to speak at community meetings.

The number one customer complaint is scavengers, who pick through the blue bin and take out the valuable recyclables. Recology loses a million dollars a year from this, but the problem to residents is mostly the bother and mess the scavengers make. It’s not legal for scavengers to take your recyclables and many work for a guy with several large trucks that sends crews out all over the city to take our recyclables. There’s a limited number of buy-back centers, such as Safeway on Market and on Mission, where drug dealers wait for scavengers who are users to turn their bottles into cash to buy drugs. The most effective means of prevention is to close the buy-back centers.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics