Neighbor Robb writes from the scene of the crime:

We were out of town this past weekend and my brother in law came over to feed the cat. Our previously un-met neighbor Jose told him that SFPD had just arrested a package thief on our front steps.

When we got back, I went over and spoke with Jose’s mom in her poor English and my poor spanish and then spoke with Jose last night. Story goes like this:

SFPD cruiser was rolling down Eugenia and noticed a suspicious looking black male on our steps. They stopped, got out of the cruiser, and walked up behind the guy. He turned around with several packages in his hands, and was promptly cornered and arrested by the two officers. Jose walked by moments later and chatted with the arresting officer, who was a friend of Jose’s brother, who is also SFPD.

Long story short, according to Jose the guy was from elsewhere in the city and came to Bernal specifically to steal packages. Apparently he and others case houses that are previously known to have deliveries left out.

Dude apparently also had outstanding warrants, two strikes, and the judge apparently deemed this a felony, so he’s probably not going to be stealing packages from my steps for a while.

And I was able to meet Jose and his mom, two neighbors I hadn’t met..

I also returned those two mostly empty boxes to their rightful owners.. One four doors down, one four blocks away.

Bernal residents are advised to be aware of rogue “magazine salesmen” currently operating in the neighborhood. This week, a rather impressive number of Bernal residents have reported groups of men knocking on doors, seeking to sell magazine subscriptions. When residents decline the offer, the “salesmen” often become surly.

Here’s a Bernal neighbor’s description of an incident earlier this week on Franconia:

The evening before last (Monday, Feb. 10) a young, African-American guy, probably in his teens, wearing a blue sweater came to our door supposedly selling magazines and books. While we were talking, he asked if he could “step into our house,” which I found odd and said, “No.” When I told him we weren’t interested, he said, “Okay,” and ran down our front stairs and out of our yard leaving our gate open.

Last evening another young man came to our door. He, who was also African-American, was dressed in a white shirt and black tie much like the Mormon solicitors that we all see around the city. Before he could say anything I told him that we had told the guy the night before that we weren’t interested and he also said, “Okay,” and exited abruptly. I watched him walk down the middle of the street so I went down our stairs to see if he was going door-to-door.

This is when I noticed a large African-American man on the sidewalk across the street from our house in a red polo shirt. He asked me, “You got a problem?” I said, “Excuse me?” “You got a problem,” he repeated. I told him that I was minding my own business and asked why he was asking.

“I already know what you’re looking for,” was his reply as he started to walk up the street. I went back up to my house and called the neighbors on either side of me.

It turns out that they had been to both houses. A young man had also been at one next-door-neighbors’ house the night before but was espousing religion.

That incident is consistent with several others.

Another neighbor reports:

https://twitter.com/mgalicki/status/433811285856092160

And another:

And another:

Notice a pattern?

The solicitors’ intent is unclear, but the whole thing is supremely fishy. They could be really really really really bad magazine salesmen. They could be casing properties to identify targets for a future burglary. They could be cyborg recon droids sent by a hostile alien planet to gather intelligence for a planned invasion and conquest of Earth. Frankly, we just don’t know.

Bernal residents should be alert, and the SFPD seeks your assistance to identify the individuals.

If they knock, do not let the solicitors into your home (where they can survey the contents of your crib). Be aware, keep them outside, bid them a cheerful farewell, and immediately contact the SFPD via the non-emergency number (553-0123) to describe the incident.

Carry on.

PHOTO: Bernalwood Air Force

Neighbor Sarah, your invaluable volunteer Bernal Heights crime reporter, attended the SFPD Ingleside Community meeting on January 21, and she filed these  summary notes on the latest Bernal Heights crime trends. (Many many many thanks, Sarah!!) Read on, read carefully, and stay safe:

Notes from Ingleside Community Meeting, 1/21/14

Captain Falvey presided.

He handed out the December and 2013 (Whole Year) Compstat page – attached. The district has averaged 11 homicides a year – there were 8 in 2013.

Robberies ended up being up only 2% for the year, which is remarkable because earlier in the year, when robberies were rampant, we were at one point up 72% vs. the prior year. There was a big drop in Q4 vs. 2012, but in January, robberies seem to be taking off again. Multiple crews appear to be involved. They are focusing their plainclothes officers in areas where the robberies have been occurring and have been getting tips from community members. They are also seeking help from the Violence Reduction Team from downtown.

Captain Falvey looked at past robbery statistics. Before 2013, the average was 441/year. In 2013, we had 393. Robberies are getting more violent, however. The chief wants to lower all felonies in 2014 (I didn’t catch by what %).

Property crimes are up 33% since the pre-2011 average. 2011 is when “realignment” began – ie, releasing certain people from state prison. SF has received 650 people released from state prison since then.

Violent crimes were up 1% (citywide, they were up 11%), and property crimes were up 7% (citywide, 12%). The station made 752 felony arrests, up 26% vs. 2012.

Burglaries – average 42/month. On page for mid-20s this month.

Ingleside wrote 8941 traffic citations in 2013, second-highest in city. This correlates with SFPD staffing (ie, goes down when there are fewer cops). The focus in 2014 is pedestrian safety. “Focus on the Five” means police focus on five most dangerous intersections and five most often-implicated violations in collisions (e.g., running red light). Using word “collision” vs. “accident” in vehicle/pedestrian cases. 32% of Ingleside citations in 2013 were in Focus on the Five areas. District has 20% of all intersections in city. Goal is to increase tickets by 10% in 2014.

Also conducting education campaigns for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists. SFSAFE has developed flyers with details on violations and fine amounts. Our district had a fatal ped/vehicle collision on 12/31 – an elderly man struck by pickup. Driver arrested.

Capt. Falvey underwent “active shooter” training led by the SFPD SWAT team in Jan. at 3rd and Evans. Whole department is going through it.

Still focused on preventing robberies, auto theft, and auto boosts.

Bike thefts – look for people wearing headlamps – suspicious unless they are out biking.

Look for cars slowing down when they see pedestrians (ie, scouting for robbery victims)

Scam going around that you need to get a prepaid card and provide PIN because your relative didn’t show up for jury duty – don’t fall for it.

You can look up Compstat for whole city at sfpolice.org.

ALERT – Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team – looking for new volunteers to get certified, must be NERT-certified first

UPCOMING EVENTS

Ingleside District Gun Buyback – April 5 – Budget of $50K+, location will be in Vis Valley/Sunnydale area

National Night Out – August 5 – at Police Academy in Diamond Heights (should be a great & fun venue)

Crime stats (Click to enlarge):

PHOTO: Top, Telstar Logistics

There was some craziness in northeast Bernal Heights on Saturday night. Perhaps you saw it on the Twitter. Perhaps you heard the heat-seeking CHP helicopter hovering overhead. Perhaps you listened to it on ScanSF. Or perhaps you had had several heavily armed police officers stationed in your backyard.

It was a big deal.

After shooting a man in the Tenderloin on Saturday night, a car full of baddies led the SFPD on a chase to  Florida at Precita, and that’s when things got really intense. Rob Nagle from the SF Examiner picks up the story:

The shooting occurred at Leavenworth and Turk streets about 10:30 p.m. when a 35-year-old man riding a bike was shot by one of four men who fled the scene in a 4-door sedan. Before fleeing the scene, one of the suspects took a necklace and some pills from the victim, police Officer Gordon Shyy said.

Officers located the vehicle and pursued it onto Highway 101 through various police districts.

The suspects reportedly abandoned the vehicle at Precita Avenue and Florida Street and fled on foot. Two suspects were taken into custody and two are still outstanding.

Several firearms were recovered in the vehicle, Shyy said.

The suspects arrested were identified as 25-year-old Timon O’Connor and 24-year-old Phillip Ridinger, both San Francisco residents. They were both booked on numerous charges including attempted homicide, robbery, conspiracy, possession of narcotics, evading police and carrying concealed firearms.

O’Connor was reportedly found hiding in the trunk of a car in a garage in the 500 block of Precita Avenue and Ridinger was apparently located at Folsom and Cesar Chavez streets, Shyy said.

Wait. Did you catch that? One of the shooting suspects was found hiding the the trunk of a car parked in a Bernal neighbors garage.

Ugh. Via Neighbor Sarah, Captain Falvey at Ingleside provides some additional detail:

The events started with a robbery in the Tenderloin. A necklace was ripped off the victim’s neck (this kind of robbery has picked up, by the way), and then one of the muggers shot him. A witness got a partial license plate number and gave the make/model of the car, which was then spotted by one of the Tenderloin patrol cars. The car took off, leading the police on a chase up Van Ness and Mission. The car was then ditched in the Precita area, and some officers responding to the scene encountered two groups of two men each, one going one way and one going another. One of the groups seemed to match the suspect descriptions from the Tenderloin robbery, so they followed those two. One was eventually arrested while talking on his cell phone as if nothing had happened. The other was found hiding in a car in a garage, as has been reported. The police arrested them and recovered two weapons. The two guys arrested were identified as the shooters. So it’s not clear if the other group of two guys had anything to do with these guys, but the police are still investigating that. The two guys who were arrested had addresses a few blocks away in the Mission.

To experience the madness as it happened, here is an audio archive of SFPD dispatch communications during the incident.

PHOTO: SFPD on Precita Saturday night, by Stephani Ramirez

Apparently, it’s crime season.

In recent days, Bernalwood has received an unusually large number of emails from Bernal neighbors sharing reports about incidents of gunfire, burglary, and robbery. Here’s the most recent one, received yesterday:

One of my neighbors left the house this morning around 6AM and was mugged out front by an assailant that had just broken into another neighbors vehicle. This happened on Aztec Street (between Shotwell and Coso). He got away with her belongings and ran toward the Shotwell/Aztec stairway.

Though our data at this point remains anecdotal, there is reason to believe the recent incidents may be seasonal. The SFPD warned residents in November that property crimes tend to increase when the days grow shorter, and remember that we experienced a crime wave this time last year.

Neighbor Sarah, Bernal’s official unofficial liaison to the SFPD’s Ingleside Station,  shares these critical personal safety tips:

There have been several muggings in Bernal Heights over the past week, especially in the south/west part of the neighborhood (near Holly Park, St. Mary’s, and elsewhere), at times ranging from 6am to 11:30pm. In several cases, the victims were approached by a group of four young men who had a gun. In other cases, there was one perpetrator. There has been a rash of burglaries in the same general area.

Captain Falvey of Ingleside Station will be emailing us an update on the crimes and whatever he can share on the investigations soon, but, in the meantime, here are some reminders:

• Be alert when out walking, and be alert as a neighbor/witness as well. Be in the moment, not on your phone. If you notice suspicious behavior, even if you yourself are not threatened, call the police.

• Leave your porch lights ON – this can make a big difference in improving lighting for pedestrians and in giving the impression that people are at home and paying attention.

• If it’s a crime in progress (of any sort – this includes auto break-ins and burglaries, as well as violent crimes) or suspicious behavior that has escalated, call 911. Program 553-8090 into your cell phone – this is cell-phone 911. Although the problem with cell phone 911 calls being routed to CHP was supposedly fixed, this exact thing – being routed to Vallejo first – happened to me a month ago when I called 911 and was near a freeway.

• The non-emergency police dispatch number is 553-0123. Call this number if you see something going on that is suspicious but does not rise to the level described above.

• If you ARE mugged, remember: surrender your valuables, not yourself. Hand over your belongings, but do anything you can to avoid going with someone to another location.

• If you are mugged or witness a mugging, try to notice details that will help the police. Muggers often wear multiple layers of clothing that can easily be shed, so look for things that cannot be removed or changed so easily: shoes, glasses, facial hair, tattoos, height, jewelry. Only do this if you can do so without endangering yourself.

• The weather is warm, and people often leave windows open. Do NOT do this, even if it’s a 2nd- or 3rd-floor window.

• SFSAFE will do free residential security assessments for your house. Call 673-SAFE to make an appointment. http://www.sfsafe.org

• SFSAFE will also help you set up a neighborhood watch group. 673-SAFE, http://www.sfsafe.org

• One random request: if you have a security camera, know how to check the footage and to make a clip for the police. This footage can be important as evidence, and often people don’t know how to do these things.

Read more tips on personal safety and residential security here.

Stay calm. Be smart. Stay tuned.

Special thanks to Neighbor Sarah for the invaluable information she provides.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Neighbor Sarah, your vigilant volunteer Bernal Heights crime reporter, attended the SFPD Ingleside Community meeting just before the Xmas/New Year break, and she filed these summary notes on current Bernal Heights crime trends.

Before we jump into that, however, there’s a quick update on the fatal shooting that took place at the Alemany housing project on December 14. The SFPD now believes that Clifton Chapman, the teen who died at the scene, was a participant in the robbery that preceded the shooting. The San Francisco Examiner reports:

A teenager was arrested in connection with the Dec. 14 homicide of 16-year-old Clifton Chatman, police Sgt. Danielle Newman said Friday.

Two people were shot that day in the Bernal Heights area, and police say the shootings happened during the course of an attempted robbery.

The intended robbery victim was walking in the 500 block of Alemany Boulevard near Ellsworth Street some time after 11 p.m. The victim was surrounded by a group of teenage boys, and one of the boys demanded the victim’s cellphone. One of the boys pulled out a handgun while the others rifled through the victim’s belongings.

Although the victim complied with suspect’s demands, the boy with the gun shot the victim in the face, Newman said, but the shot glanced off his face and struck Chatman, who was reportedly one of the robbery suspects.

Now, on to Neighbor Sarah’s regular crime summary:

Notes from Ingleside Meeting, 12/17/13

Captain Falvey presided.  He has now been captain at Ingleside for 15 months.

CRIME TRENDS (see attached Compstat report):

November was pretty good – key arrests + education campaigns likely led to low crime for the month.  Got 20+ guns off the streets early in the month.

First 15 days of the month – 17 robberies.
Then made a few key arrests.
Last 15 days of the month – 3 robberies.

2013 started out very high with robberies — this has improved with arrests, but, as we know in Bernal, that doesn’t mean the accused will stay locked up for long, so we should not get complacent.

City-wide, crime is up 13% YTD.  In our district, it’s up 7%.

GANG TRENDS
Over the past several years, gangs have shifted from drug-dealing to stealing cell phones.  Now moving on to property crimes (e.g., auto boosts) because they can efficiently get property to sell and face lower penalties than for robbery.  Police believe gangs are coaching one another to shift to break-ins and burglaries.

BURGLARIES
Lots of entries through garage doors (41% of burglaries in district last month were through garage).  Remember to take your garage-door openers inside when you leave your car and make sure all entry points to your garage (and from garage to house) are secure).

Continuing trend of houses being built or remodeled getting broken into – tools & appliances stolen.  Don’t use realtor-style lockboxes to hold keys! These can be pried open.  Also seeing theft of Ford Econoline vans subsequently used in appliance robberies.

Call police if you see this happening to a neighbor’s house. Remember: would you want someone to call if they saw this going on at your home?

HOMICIDES
City at 47 homicides YTD for 2013 (five years ago, it was 94).
Homicide at 580 Alemany – investigation continuing (See update above).  First homicide in district in 66 days.

PAROLEES
Question about how police keep track of parolees and people on probation.  SFPD works with those departments and does Fugitive Recovery Team days where multiple agencies sweep an area and visit the parolees and people on probation in a given area.

TRAFFIC SAFETY
Traffic accidents are up this year city-wide. Drivers, slow down!  Pedestrian safety initiative going on.  More people than ever are on bikes, too.  Ingleside has 20% of city’s intersections.

GUEST SPEAKER
Sarah Nichols, Community Boards
(415) 920-3820

She’s an attorney and got involved with Community Boards this year.
They resolve disputes through mediation. Oldest public mediation service in US.
Help parties find resolution themselves.
Often disputes are among neighbors, roommates, HOAs, families
$40 to open a case – can be waived for harship
17,000 local mediators trained since inception
85% of disputing parties have approved of outcome
Confidential, safe
You contact Community Boards – they contact 2nd party (you don’t have to)
1-3 mediators per issue, 3 hour mediation (can be daytime, night, weekend)
Mediators are matched to disputing parties in terms of age, demographics, language, etc.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Ingleside district gun buyback will be April 5 – save the date!

PHOTO: Top, Telstar Logistics

For the second time this year, there has been a fatal shooting at the Alemany public housing in south Bernal. John King from the SF Chronicle tells it:

A 16-year-old boy died Saturday night in a shooting near the Alemany housing projects on the south flank of Bernal Heights.

The incident occurred shortly after 11 p.m. at Alemany Boulevard and Ellsworth Street near Interstate 280, according to Officer Albie Esparza of the San Francisco Police Department. Two bodies were found on the scene by police.

Clifton Chatman, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene. Another male had life-threatening injuries but is expected to survive.

No suspects have been identified, Esparza said.

The SFPD is looking for tips in the case.

Hearing about the shooting, Neighbor Karen wrote Bernalwood:

I was really struck by the sadness of losing a young life from our neighborhood. I have a son myself, so I guess it kind of hit home. It reminded me of how amazing the Bernalwood community (and the Bernal community as a whole) was supporting Christy Svanemyr’s family when she was tragically killed in Holly Park. And how helpful the community was with the Moultrie St fire. And I hope there is some way we could help this family too.

For some reason, it seems especially tragic to lose a family member during the holidays. Is there anyone who reads your blog who might know the family and could reach out to them to find out how we could help?

UPDATE – 30 December, 2013: The SFPD has released additional details about the circumstances that led to the death of Clifton Chapman on December 14. The San Francisco Examiner reports:

A teenager was arrested in connection with the Dec. 14 homicide of 16-year-old Clifton Chatman, police Sgt. Danielle Newman said Friday.

Two people were shot that day in the Bernal Heights area, and police say the shootings happened during the course of an attempted robbery.

The intended robbery victim was walking in the 500 block of Alemany Boulevard near Ellsworth Street some time after 11 p.m. The victim was surrounded by a group of teenage boys, and one of the boys demanded the victim’s cellphone. One of the boys pulled out a handgun while the others rifled through the victim’s belongings.

Although the victim complied with suspect’s demands, the boy with the gun shot the victim in the face, Newman said, but the shot glanced off his face and struck Chatman, who was reportedly one of the robbery suspects.

Fa-la-la-la-la / la-la-la-la, and ho-ho-ho, and keep an eye on any packages you get delivered to your home in the weeks ahead, because the holidays are prime hunting season for parcel thieves.

Neighbor Chris shares this story from last weekend:

On Saturday I had an attempted theft from my house. Around 1-2pm, a  woman wearing a black hoodie and a colorful backpack was spotted by my downstairs tenant trying to steal a package through my security gate. This took place on Heyman Ave.

She had a long piece of metal she had put through the bars and was trying to scoop out the package through the bars of the gate. Luckily my tenant came outside and she ran off.

Currently, I only have a security grill behind the lock for my gate. After this happened, I realized that it would be quite easy for a thief to extract small packages from elsewhere in the gate. I’ll be welding on some more security grill to fix this vulnerability.

If you regularly get any packages or mail delivered behind a security gate/door, go make sure they are truly secure. Bring a metal pole and see if you can fish anything out through the gates.

Stay safe, Bernal!

Barring that (no pun intended), you might also consider having parcels delivered to your workplace, rather than to your home.

IMAGE: FreakingNews.com

Neighbor Sarah was a co-organizer of the SFSafe Safety Workshop that took place the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center on October 24. If you weren’t able to attend, you’re still in luck, because Neighbor Sarah also typed up some mighty impressive notes.

This is one of the most comprehensive and detailed safety summaries we’ve ever published on Bernalwood, so you are strongly advised to read it thoroughly, print it out for easy reference, and share it with your friends, family, and occasional lovers:

SFSAFE WORKSHOP, 10/24/13 at Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center

We had a good crowd of about 50 Bernal residents (and a few from other neighborhoods) attending.  Thank you to Darcy and Heartfelt for providing awesome refreshments and to Dropcam for donating the camera that was raffled off.

PERSONAL SAFETY
Key Principle: Never ignore your “6th sense” when it comes to personal safety. Pay attention to that knot in your stomach or the feeling of your hair raising.

Second Key Principle: “Surrender your valuables, not yourself.”  (More on this below.)

There’s no totally safe way to walk alone, but here are ways to make it safer:

• BE IN THE MOMENT, not on your iPhone. You’ve heard it a million times before, but being engrossed in your iPhone both distracts you – making you less aware of your surroundings – and advertises that you’re carrying an electronic device that can be easily fenced and turned into cash.

• Most people avoid eye contact and tend look down and about 5-10 feet ahead when they’re walking. This makes them less aware of their surroundings.  Instead, LOOK AROUND REGULARLY AND LET PEOPLE KNOW YOU SEE THEM.  This does NOT mean looking super-aggressive – just make it clear that you’re paying attention.

• WALK WITH PURPOSE.  This is another thing we’ve all heard before, but many people kind of drift down the street, especially if they’re engrossed in their phones, and they look like easier targets.

• If you know you’ll be walking alone, especially at night, GIVE SOME THOUGHT IN ADVANCE TO YOUR ROUTING.  It’s better to take the longer, better-lit/more-populated route than to take the shortcut down an alley.  Don’t let stress over being late (for example) override your sixth sense.  Think about or look up places like businesses that will be open, fire stations, police stations, hospitals, etc. on your route.

• Similarly, before we had cell phones, we used to TELL SOMEONE OUR PLANS AND CHECK IN ONCE WE HAD ARRIVED.  This is still a good practice if you are planning to walk alone, especially in certain circumstances.  For instance, if you’re going to work late on a Saturday at your office downtown, then walk to meet people for dinner in SoMa, let someone know and check in with them once you’ve arrived and met up with the group.

• IF SOMEONE IS FOLLOWING YOU, THEY WILL OFTEN DO IT FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET AND A BIT BEHIND YOU.  Again, knowing this requires looking around periodically, and be sure to look across the street and back as well as directly behind you.  If the person/people cross to your side of the street, you should cross to the other side or walk in the middle of the road.  [Be especially aware of this when getting off of MUNI or coming out of BART – the MO of muggers lately seems to be to note who has a phone and is walking alone, and then to follow them away from the transit hub for a ways before robbing them.]

• KEEP A PHYSICAL BUBBLE AROUND YOU – no one should be able to get within an arm’s and a leg’s length before you try to stop them.  He thinks men in particular tend to let someone get too close – because they don’t want to offend them – before they make a move to stop them. Use your voice or your body to stop them.

• IF YOU SEE A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO MAKE YOU NERVOUS, CROSS THE STREET AND CROSS BACK AFTER YOU PASS THEM.  This has come up a lot in the Excelsior lately with people loitering outside of NetStop.

• CONCEAL YOUR VALUABLES.  Sounds obvious, but it’s better to “dress down” than to display lots of jewelry, electronics, a phone outlined in your back pocket, etc.

• TAKE ONLY THE VALUABLES THAT YOU NEED.  You probably don’t need to take all of your cash, your checkbook, all of your cards (credit cards, rewards cards, membership cards, IDs, etc), and all of your keys (home, office, bike, car, etc) every time you go out.  Having a more streamlined set of items with you means that if you’re mugged, you’ll lose less stuff, and you’ll also have to spend less time engaged in the tedious process of cancelling cards and getting new ones.

• SEPARATE YOUR VALUABLES.   Don’t keep everything in one fat wallet or in one pocket when you go out.  You may still get everything stolen – the muggers in last year’s Bernal robbery sprees patted down all of the victims’ pockets – but this at least improves your chances.

• There’s no tactic that will succeed in all muggings, but, if you feel personally threatened, one idea is to THROW YOUR VALUABLES IN ONE DIRECTION AND RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.  The mugger is likely to grab your stuff rather than pursue you.

• NEVER GO WITH SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO TAKE YOU TO ANOTHER LOCATION. Do whatever you have to do to get away – run, fight, scream, etc.   You can also PASSIVELY RESIST – sit down, lie down in the street, pretend to faint, start vomiting (no guidance on how exactly to do this), etc.

• HAVE YOUR KEYS IN HAND when you’re getting home or going to your car so that you don’t have to spend time looking for them.

RESIDENTIAL SECURITY
SFSAFE will do FREE residential security assessments of your house and make specific recommendations based on your house’s particular needs – call 673-SAFE to set one up.

Safety in this context means both a) securing your house against burglars and b) making it easy for emergency responders to enter (or for you to get out) in an emergency.  So be careful NOT to “oversecure” your house in such a way that makes it dangerous in a fire, etc. Specifically:

• If you have bars over your windows, at least one set must have an emergency release in every room that could be used for sleeping (not just bedrooms but places where people might fall asleep on the couch, etc)

• Don’t use double-cylinder deadbolts – the kind that need a key to open from both the inside and the outside.  Instead, use single-cylinder so that you can get out quickly a fire or other emergency.

General Principles to Improve Home Security:

• Your ADDRESS NUMBERS should be visible from all directions to emergency responders from the street – numerals should be in a high-contrast color (vs. your house’s paint color) and 3-4” high.

• Burglars are “creatures of opportunity” and look for the easiest target. Most burglaries occur in the daytime.

• TIME, LIGHT, and NOISE are a burglar’s enemies.

• A teen or small adult can get through any opening that is 96” square – the only thing that doesn’t bend is your head.

• If someone tries to enter your house when you’re there, do NOT pretend that you’re not home.  Say something like, “Hold on, Vince, I’ve got to see who’s at the door” (implying someone else is home) or “Is that the police?”  Burglars typically knock to see if anyone is home.  If they are, they ask for some person who isn’t there, pretend they got the wrong address, and leave.

LANDSCAPING/YARDS
• 2-FOOT/8-FOOT rule – bushes/shrubs should be no higher than 2-3’ tall; the crowns of trees should be no lower than 7-8’ tall.  This improves visibility.

• Avoid having trees or bushes right in front of doors or windows.

• Floodlights pointing OUT in your backyard don’t do much except blind your neighbors; consider putting floodlights at perimeter, directed inward.  Can be difficult if your wiring does not allow for it.  SFSAFE does free individual security assessments for single family homes and can discuss your specific yard.

LIGHTING
• Street lights are meant for cars and are not intended to be ‘pedestrian-scale’ lighting.  This is why so many streets in Bernal and elsewhere in SF seem so dimly lit.

• In an ideal world, lighting should let you see a face 20 yards away.  You do not find this most places in SF (exception is on Market St. where there are also lights on the sidewalk at a lower height).

• LEAVING YOUR PORCH LIGHT ON ALL NIGHT CAN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE LIGHTING FOR PEDESTRIANS (esp. if others on your block do it as well).

• There are many TIMERS for lights available – some screw onto the bulb directly.  When you’re away, you can set your lights to go on/off at different times, as though you’re still there. [One example – reviews seem to indicate it’s not the most amazing product, however:; & here’s one that automatically goes on from dusk til dawn]

• If you want to have a sophisticated, smart-phone-controlled timing system and spend a ton of money, one of my colleagues loves this.

DOORS & LOCKS
• As mentioned above, it is best to use single-cylinder deadbolts [example for illustration only – I have no idea if this is a good product.]

• Don’t buy the cheapest deadbolt, but don’t spend a fortune, either – a deadbolt in the $30-high $40s range should be sufficient.

• Deadbolts work because of the strike plate [example of strike plate – no idea if this is a good product]. SFSAFE recommends a reinforced strike plate with four screws of at least 3” long (4” also good).  The screws go into the doorframe and then reach the 2×4 king studs.

• Spring latches do nothing more than keep the door from blowing open in the wind.

• Any external door (including doors that go from inside your garage into your house) should be solid-core.  Hollow-core doors can be reinforced, if needed, with polycarbonate, or with quarter-inch sheets of plywood on both sides OR half-inch on one side.  Be sure to weather-treat any plywood exposed to the elements. If you use polycarbonate, it should be only on the interior side because it will get scratched up if outside.

• Sliding doors – if sliding member is on the outside, you can’t use a dowel in the track to secure it.  Burglars can lift it out of its track.  The best thing to do is to insert screws in the top metal plate that prevent this from happening.

• Doors with exterior hinges – a burglar can undo the hinge and remove the door if you don’t have a latch guard or non-removable pins in the hinges.  On the plus side, you can’t kick in an outward-opening door.

WINDOWS
• Contrary to what you might assume, it’s best to close your curtains when you’re not at home.  Don’t make it easy for people to take a look and figure out what stuff you have and whether anyone is home.

• As mentioned above, avoid having trees and bushes directly in front of windows.

• Don’t leave windows open when you’re not there – easy for someone to force their way in.

• Sash windows can be secured by pinning both sides at an angle on the interior, preventing a burglar from lifting it out.

• Replace louver/louvre windows – there is no way to secure them sufficiently. The individual panels can be removed.

• Secure transom windows with pins catercorner from each other so someone outside cannot force it open.

• Skylights – consider bars, grills, grates, or polycarbonate to secure these.

OTHER
• Garage – key outlets to open the door are bad; you can spray saline into them, and the garage door will open.

• Mail slots – if you have one in your door, add a hood over it on the inside so that someone cannot use it to case your house by peering all the way in.

• When you’re traveling, make sure you get someone who lives NEARBY to check on your house.  If the person you ask lives too far away, you can pretty much guarantee they’ll only check the day you leave and the day before you return.

Whew. Got all that? Perhaps you’d like to read it again to ensure it all sinks in? Good idea.

Bernalwood sends our deepest thanks for Neighbor Sarah both for co-organizing the meeting and sharing her amazing notes.