A breaking story from Bernalwood Action News…
Neighbor Brett just sent along these photos of a thief on Cortland, photographed at about 9am this morning. Brett writes:
If you see this guy call the cops. He just smashed a cab window grabbed a backpack and ran down Cortland.
Here are closeups:
If you see this suspect around the neighborhood, please notify the SFPD.
PHOTOS: Neighbor Brett
Life in Bernal Heights is generally rather blissful. It’s a kind of ecstasy, all unto itself.
But Neighbor Benjamin and Neighbor Steve got into some trouble with the San Francisco Police over the weekend for keeping 60 pounds of chemical ecstasy in their Mission Street apartment. Oops!
MissionLocal details the bust:
San Francisco police seized nearly 60 pounds of MDMA, a drug more commonly called ecstasy, in an apartment on Mission Street near 29th Street Sunday. Two men, one identified as 31-year-old Steven Terrell and the other as 36-year-old Benjamin Hagerl, were arrested in connection with the drugs.
Police said that at about 9 a.m. Sunday, a resident called and said that a man was trying to get inside an apartment unit in the 3300 block of Mission Street. When the resident refused to let the man in, the suspect broke one of the apartment windows and left a trail of blood.
When police arrived, they found a fresh trail of blood and followed it to a second-floor apartment. After they knocked on the door, a man with blood on his hand and pants answered.
While talking to the man, whom officers later identified as the burglary suspect, police noticed several narcotic packages on the floor. They also saw that a second man was inside the apartment.
They detained both men and served them a search warrant. The search led to the discovery of 23 kilograms of MDMA in the form of powder and 4.5 kilograms in the form of pills.
CBS-SF adds that the arrest was was one of the biggest drug busts in SFPD history.
PHOTO: Benjamin Hagerl (left) and Steven Terrell (right)
UPDATE, August 7: The hearings that had been scheduled for Friday and next Monday have been rescheduled. Bernalwood will provide details on new hearing dates when they are available.
Neighbor Sarah is Bernalwood’s official unofficial liaison with local law-enforcement agencies, and she brings this update on the criminal proceedings now underway for the suspects arrested in connection with last winter’s violent mugging spree in Bernal Heights:
I emailed the assistant DA on the Bernal robbery suspects’ cases, and she had a few updates.
– No plea deal was reached at the meeting last Weds. The DA is open to a plea bargain but with serious prison time (10+ years) attached.
POSTPONED: –
The evidentiaryhearing IS scheduled to go forward this Friday (8/9) and Monday (8/12), but the defense has filed another motion to continue (ie, reschedule). The DA’s office plans to oppose this. The judge will decide whether to move forward or not, and we will not know this before.So, as was the case before, we want to show community support for our neighbors who were victims or witnesses to these crimes and who must appear if the hearing does go forward.
The suspects have consistently had many supporters in the courtroom, and testifying in any hearing or trial can be an unnerving proposition. So if you have time or can make time to attend on Friday, even if it’s only for an hour or two, I know our neighbors would appreciate it.
Right now, only two people have signed up.
Use this form to sign up (ignore the hearing for 7/31, which has already occurred). And many thanks for the community support as this schedule has dragged out (which is, unfortunately, common).
Neighbor Orlando lives on the north side of the hill, in the upper elevations of Folsom Street. Last week, he left a pair of Red Wing work boots on his front stoop overnight. In the morning, they were gone.
When Neighbor Orlando went back to review his security camera logs, he found footage of the gentleman shown above removing the boots from the front stoop a little before 4 am. Quite understandably, this made Neighbor Orlando angry:
The other day at the early hours of dawn my leather boots got stolen from my front door. I’ve had them for ten years, and they were made of the finest cow hide that Red Wing stocks for their specialized work boots.
Here is a picture of the incident. Has anyone seen this guy? Our neighbors should be aware that he is making late night/early morning rounds. And moral of the story is, don’t leave any strollers, shoes, jackets or anything out at night. It will disappear.
Grrrrr. Totally sucks. Anyone recognize the shoe burglar in the photo?
Walking home on Precita Avenue last week, I came upon a group of SFPD officers who were in the process of arresting a gentleman who appeared to be in his mid 20s. The man was handcuffed and sullen, and alongside him I saw a an open bag that contained a motley collection of hand tools — snips, hammers, screwdrivers, etc.
Courtesy of the latest Ingleside Station Newsletter, we now learn that the suspect I saw was caught in the act while trying to steal a neighbor’s scooter, and that he may have also been connected to several other crimes, including car break-ins and home robberies:
Friday, July 12, 2013
8:23pm 200 Blk Precita Stolen Property
Ingleside Officers Kabanuck, Guzman, and several other Ingleside units were dispatched to investigate the attempted theft of a motor scooter. Dispatch further advised responding units, that the suspect was a man in his 20’s with long hair, wearing a green sweatshirt. When the officers arrived at the Precita Street address, they found the suspect standing next to the motor scooter. The officers phoned the witness who confirmed that the man standing next to the vehicle was observed trying to start it and drive it away. The suspect was also standing next to a shopping bag and a black backpack that he acknowledged belonged to him. A computer check revealed the suspect was on felony probation for narcotics from San Mateo County. A probation search of the bag and backpack turned up various tools including a crowbar, hammer, screwdriver and file and other items such as mail, checks, and DMV documents which may have been stolen in recent burglaries. The officers recognized the tools as items often used to commit burglaries of residences and vehicles. The suspect was booked on variety of charges including possession of stolen property and burglary tools as well as possession of narcotics paraphernalia. Report number: 130574133
… which only goes to validate something that the officers at Ingleside often emphasize: At any given time, it only takes a small number of baddies to generate a whole lot of property-related crime on the streets of Bernal Heights.
Kudos to the alert neighbor who noticed this baddie working his trade, and hats off to the SFPD for the prompt response and arrest.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
A man was shot to death at the Alemany Public Housing project last night. Hannah Albarazi from Bay City News has the details:
San Francisco police received calls shortly after midnight, reporting gunshots heard in the 900 block of Ellsworth Street, near the San Francisco Housing Authority’s Alemany Boulevard property.
Police and fire units responded to the scene and located the victim with at least one gunshot wound to his chest.
The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m., police said.
No suspects had been arrested in connection with the homicide as of this morning, police said.
Business is booming at Ichi Sushi on Mission Street. The critical accolades keep coming, and there’s always a crowd at the door waiting to get in. That’s great news for Chef Tim Archuleta and his wife Erin, and Bernalwood couldn’t be happier for them — except for the fact that as Ichi’s fame has grown, it’s gotten steadily harder to get a table, especially on a Friday or Saturday night.
But last night was a Wednesday, and when a visiting friend declared that she wanted sushi, I saw my opportunity: Ichi! Midweek! On a Wednesday night! Yessss!
And so, with dreams of a friendly spot at the sushi bar swirling in my head, Bernalwood fired off an enthusiastic tweet to Ichi to warn them of our impending arrival. Ichi’s response caught us by surprise:
WHAT?? A bomb scare????!!
Yes, the San Francisco Police Department had cordoned off several blocks of Mission Street between Cortland and Virginia. The Bomb Squad was at the scene, along with several units from the San Francisco Fire Department. It seems a suspicious briefcase was found abandoned near a bus stop on Mission, and our City’s law enforcement authorities decided to err on the side of caution.
Happily, it all turned out to be a false alarm. The suspicious briefcase posed no threat, and after about an hour of nervous anxiety, the SFPD declared an all clear. The police tape came down, Mission Street reopened, and Chef Tim scrambled to recall his staff from the nearby Rock Bar, where they had wisely chosen to take shelter.
Bernalwood arrived at Ichi a short time later, by which point the place was already packed — as if the whole bomb scare thing had never happened. Blessedly, a space opened up after about 10 minutes, and our fantasy of snagging a coveted space at the bar finally came true.
All clear, indeed.
PHOTOS: Top, Rachel Leibman. Below, Jeremy Fitzhardinge
Ever-vigilant, Neighbor Sarah attended the SFPD Ingleside Station Community Meeting on May 21. Afterward, she typed up these fantastic summary notes for the rest of us. Lots of very interesting crime statistics and data this month, so read on and be wiser:
Notes from Ingleside Community Meeting, 5/21/13
Captain Falvey presided.
CRIME STATISTICS AND TRENDS
Captain Falvey handed out a printout of the Compstat crime statistics. Part I crimes (shown below) are violent crimes and property crimes; Part 2 (not shown) are mostly misdemeanors. Compstat has changed from reporting a rolling four-week period to reporting monthly, which is helpful. These stats are for April 2013.
There was a 44% drop in violent crimes from March to April. Robberies are still up 42% YTD, but there has been a 15% decrease in all other violent crimes YTD.
Robberies have been trending down the past three months. They can’t say exactly why, but arrests are up a LOT, and the police have been using Compstat to deploy resources to high-crime areas.
Property crimes are up 17% YTD, with the biggest driver being theft from autos (up 71% YTD, but also declining in recent months). The station has gotten lots of the new recruits, which frees up other officers to focus on thefts from autos.
One area of focus has been Precita Park. They have had several plainclothes officers in that area, including one who broke his nose when he ran into an auto booster and they bonked heads.
Someone asked why Precita is such a popular spot for break-ins. Theories included easy freeway access, a nearby homeless encampment, and the proximity of the Bernal Dwellings. The Excelsior is similarly “popular” for auto boosters. It was observed that it seems as if there are more homeless people in the area, possibly because a large encampment near the Caltrain station was recently dismantled.
Burglaries were down 39% from March and are more or less flat YTD. Arrests are way up. Auto thefts were down from March and are also more or less flat YTD. One of the officers knows the auto thieves in the area very well and has been keeping track of those released from prison. “Criminals are lazy” and prefer to “work” near where they live. Also, they tend to run downhill (vs. uphill) when fleeing.
Personal thefts are up – again, it’s largely phones, iPads, laptops left in cars or at Starbucks when you go to the bathroom (do NOT do that). This category also includes shoplifting.
Homicides are down 86% YTD, but the stat is screwy because 2012 had one crime scene with five homicides (Howth Street murders).
Robberies so far in May are up a bit from April. Police continue to get photos of criminals from MUNI video – and victims using phones near doors. THIS IS VERY FOOLISH BEHAVIOR. Robbers have realized MUNI has good video, so now often will follow someone from bus stop and THEN rob them later. Often, they are still captured on video (because they were watching the victim), just not in the act of committing the crime.
Q&A/OTHER
Captain is working with DA and Permit Officers on 10 worst “problem properties” in district – both commercial and residential. These are addresses with most police calls and other problems. Coincidentally, moments after the meeting ended, officers had to go deal with one of these properties on Andover in Bernal.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
If you’ve been paying attention to Bernalwood’s regular crime reports, you’ve probably noticed two major trends: 1) Robberies involving the theft of iPhone and Android smartphones are way way up (not just in Bernal, but all over San Francisco); and 2) Car break-ins are a growing problem, as thugs go in search of either the aforementioned iGadgets or garage door openers.
In light of these sad facts, your Bernal neighbors and community groups have been working to equip all Citizens of Bernalwood with the information you need to prevent crime and — just as importantly! — properly report crime when you see it.
Let’s start with the crime-reporting part. Neighbor Sarah, Bernalwood’s valiant liaison with the SFPD, recently shared a very handy summary of police phone numbers to use if you see or are a victim of a vehicle break-in:
There has been some confusion about when you should call and when you’re allowed to file a report with the police.
– DO call the police if you see break-ins occurring, even if it isn’t your car that is being broken into.
– Call 911 if you see someone actually breaking in.
– If you see someone who appears to be looking into cars but hasn’t yet broken in, call 553-0123.
– You cannot have the police take a report AFTER THE FACT (such as when you notice a bunch of broken car windows in the morning) on any car that is NOT your own.
– If your car IS broken into, please DO file a police report, even if you have no intention of submitting a claim to insurance. The police really need the data about where and when the break-ins are occurring so they can increase patrols, etc. This takes about five minutes to do online.
Meanwhile, in the wake of last January’s unpleasant iDevice crime wave, several of our most glamorous neighborhood organizations joined forces to produce a handy one-page directory of crimefighting information resources. (TIP: If you want to print your own copy of the guide, download this pdf version for best results.)
Let’s stay safe out there, people.
You may recall that the perps who are allegedly responsible for the recent armed-robbery unpleasantness in Bernal Heights were captured because a quick-thinking cop used his personal iPad to track a stolen iPhone… and the baddies who took it.
You may also recall that shortly after the thugs were arrested, Neighbor Regina organized a donation fund for grateful Bernal residents to contribute to the purchase of a few iPads for use by officers from the SFPD’s Ingleside Station.
The fund was a big success, and three new iPads were recently procured and delivered to Ingleside. Neighbor Regina tells it:
Not only did we exceed the fundraising goal for one iPad, but Neighbor Cynthia (an Apple employee) offered us her discount, so we were able to purchase three iPads for the Ingleside department.
The iPads have now been delivered to Captain Timothy Falvey who is thrilled to receive them. We met an officer who rides his police bike on Cortland — he will be using one. We met a SWAT member who says he will use one (Google Maps has done wonders for his team). Captain Falvey even asked to keep the Apple shopping bag the devices came in for use during decoy operations.
Thanks to some die-cut stickers contributed by Ellaprints on Precita, all three iPads will also sport the glamorous Bernalwood logo while in action.
Way to go, neighbors!
Indeed. Nice work, people.
PHOTOS: Bernal neighbors drop off community-purchased iPads at Ingleside Station, by Neighbor Regina
These have been difficult days for the automobiles of Bernal Heights (and the citizens who love them). On Twitter and various neighborhood mailing lists, your neighbors have been emitting electronic shrieks of despair at the number of smashed car windows seen in Bernal Heights, particularly on the northern and eastern slopes.
Rest assured, this is not just perception; it’s a statistical reality, as Neighbor Sarah, Bernalwood’s valiant liaison to the SFPD’s Indleside Station, documents here in her monthly crime summary. As always, Ye Citizens of Bernalwood are strongly strongly strongly encouraged to read Neighbor Sarah’s report in its entirety, because the information you will learn here could save you much heartache and many hundreds of dollars later.
Notes from SFPD Ingleside Station Community Meeting, 4/16/13
Captain Tim Falvey presided.
CRIME STATS FOR Q1 2013:
Big increase vs. 2012, led by cell phone robberies.
In Q1, 57% of robberies had a cell phone involved. In 25% of robberies, a cell phone was the ONLY thing taken. 34% of robberies involve iPhones specifically.
iPhones remain easy to resell and convert into cash. Carrying an iPhone 5 in the open is like visibly carrying $300 cash.
The police have focused their resources on the areas where there are the most robberies, often transit hubs.
Robbery arrests are up 100% vs. the same period in 2012.
Burglaries are up 20%, and burglary arrests are up 156%. The first quarter saw a trend of burglars getting into the house via stolen garage-door openers. Do NOT leave these in your car, ever. Your car also contains your registration papers, which have your address on them.
Car thefts are up 10%. 47% of cars stolen in the district are pre-2001 Hondas and Acuras because shaved keys work in the ignition. Consider getting your ignition re-keyed ($150-200) or at least use a club-like device. Even better are the newer ones that go around the gas pedal. Post-2001 Hondas are only 4% of stolen cars – Honda changed the lock system in 2001. Most thieves are joyriding and will just move on to the next car if yours is made a bit more difficult to break into. If all the cars in a neighborhood are difficult, they will move on to another neighborhood.
The same thing goes for auto break-ins. They are up quite a bit. Much of it is scavenging in cars because enough people are leaving computers, garage-door openers, etc. in their cars to make this sort of fishing worthwhile to the thieves. One major area for car break-ins has been Precita Park and up the hill (east slope of Bernal), and police have been directing resources there. Also many car break-ins in the Excelsior.
Reminder: call the police if you see someone breaking into cars, even if it is not your car! One officer had two different people in the Precita area tell him that they had seen someone breaking into cars but hadn’t called it in because it wasn’t their car being broken into. In general, if you see something going on and aren’t sure if it’s a crime or not, call the police and let them sort it out.
Robberies are down in the first half of April (8 total). Over past five months, 64% of robberies have occurred in the second half of the month. Police are not sure why.
GUEST SPEAKER: JENNIFER CHOI DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY of Code Enforcement for the Ingleside and Southern Police Districts. (Jennifer.Choi@sfgov.org)
There are 150 attorneys in the office, led by Dennis Herrera. One or more attorneys are assigned to every city agency. She is one of the attorneys focused on Code Enforcement.
The District Attorney’s office deals with criminal law; the City Attorney deals with civil codes. Another way to think of it is DA prosecutions can result in jail. City Attorney lawsuits can result in money being paid. Some people are more afraid of losing money than they are of being sentenced to jail time.
The goal of Code Enforcement is to “abate public nuisances.” What is a public nuisance? There’s a spectrum, but it involves violations of the various city codes – public health, fire, building, planning, etc. Almost every neighborhood has at least one major “problem house” – there may be criminal activity occurring, but it’s hard for the police to catch it in progress, and so the City Attorney can often help if there are also code violations occurring (which there often are).
Most complaints referred to the City Attorney on a day-to-day basis can be solved by referring each to the proper agency. For example, a badly overgrown yard would be referred to the Department of Public Health for follow-up. Peeling lead paint could be referred to DPH or the Department of Building Inspections.
Sometimes – maybe 5% of the time – the property owner will not fix whatever the problem is. The issue would then be referred back to the City Attorney, which can issue citations/fines or even sue the property owner. As with criminal cases, EVIDENCE is very important – the City Attorney has to have a paper trail to present in order to sue. You have to “start generating paper” on a problem property. This means complaints to the police or relevant agencies. The City Attorney “is only as good as the evidence.”
Typically, the situations that result in lawsuits are severe. I’m not going to list all of the addresses that came up in the meeting here (in case that would jeopardize any criminal investigations or lawsuits), but I’ll share some qualitative examples from the meeting.
One that I can share is 277 Arlington, which is in Glen Park. It was a single-family residence that had been illegally converted into four units and was occupied by squatters. The property had been foreclosed upon and was owned by a bank that was doing nothing to maintain it. Neighbors reported problems with drug dealing, drug use, and related activity. The City Attorney compiled a great deal of evidence (on, among other things, the number of times the police had to visit the property), and they threatened to sue. The bank acquiesced and sued each of the “tenants” to get them out.
Several people at the meeting knew about a blighted house in the Crocker-Amazon area. Ms. Choi agreed that it was one of the worst examples of blight in the city. The house is unoccupied, boarded up, and often covered in graffiti. (I looked it up on Google Street View and can confirm that it is really something to behold.) The issue is apparently that DBI keeps issuing permits for the owner to do the work required to bring it up to code, but then the owner never does the work. The permit expires, and the owner gets a new permit from DBI. The City Attorney is trying to get DBI to stop issuing permits if the work is never performed because they cannot sue until the owner is in violation. This has been going on for years.
There are other houses the City Attorney is working on in the Ingleside, including one in Bernal Heights. The problems with these houses include operating as an illegal SRO hotel (one small house seems to have 17+ people living in it), severe hoarding/cluttering, illegal work or failure to do work on unsafe structures, and more.
Individuals can also be sued for being public nuisances, though this is rare. One case they almost brought was a man in the Bayview who deliberately bothered his neighbors by placing massive speakers outside and blaring music at them. Just before the lawsuit was to be filed, he was arrested on a criminal charge for something else.
The City Attorney has also worked on closing down smoke shops that were selling crack pipes, gang injunctions to prevent known, active gang members (she again emphasized the need to compile lots of evidence) from associating with one another in a given territory, and drug abatement actions (suing property owners and tenants for operating a “house of drugs” – in the Tenderloin, they sued two stores that were harboring drug dealers). They also got a big settlement out of a payday-loan company.
Finally, she brought up the City Attorney’s new smartphone app, Up2Code. This allows users to submit complaints about code violations, as well as upload photos of the violations, from their phones. Ms. Choi said that the Ingleside District is the most active so far and that the City Attorney’s office has been “inundated.”
I have downloaded the app, and it’s a very good app and easy to use – almost too easy. For example, you could envision neighbors (or anyone who might have a resentment toward someone else) submitting one complaint after another to harass someone. I asked her how they triage the more important complaints from the more minor ones, as well as how they avoid getting involved in interpersonal disputes. She said they do usually get to the bottom of it, and it sometimes happened anyway with the old-fashioned complaint hotline. Their hope is that the app will get people who wouldn’t otherwise submit reports to do so.
Since the meeting, I have done an informal and totally unscientific study of the complaints submitted to Up2Code (which you can view from the website). The majority of complaints seem to be things that I would characterize as 311 complaints – graffiti and dumping. So, thus far, it doesn’t seem as if people are anonymously informing on their neighbors for every possible code violation, so perhaps this concern is unfounded (though perhaps the concern should be that the City Attorney is spending time on 311 issues). I’d love to hear what the community thinks. Is it exciting that a city agency has adopted user-friendly technology? Or is it a worrisome embrace of the same Internet anonymity that makes the comments sections of blogs, articles, etc. so hateful? Discuss.
GUEST SPEAKERS:
Mike Kenna and Dan Kling from Recology
You get two free Recycle My Junk pickups per year – call 330-1300 to schedule them (they’ll usually happen within a few days after your call, except just after Christmas, when they need more time to schedule since many trucks are booked for picking up Christmas trees). You can also call them to pick up abandoned junk.
A few questions from the audience –
Do you have to wash out your recyclables? Please wash out – some stuff left inside is OK. Issue is that dripping stuff ruins the recyclable paper.
Where does fabric go? Black bin/landfill.
Where do packing peanuts go? UPS or FedEx stores.
Who gets the compost? Regular giveaways to public, and many Napa vineyards use it.
What do you do with paint cans? If empty (dried paint OK), can put in blue bin. Most paints can be dropped off at Cole Hardware and elsewhere; some types need to be brought to dump (enamel, for instance).
What about kids’ toys? If all hard plastic, OK to recycle. Remove metal rods. Don’t include if there’s electrical, batteries, or other non-plastic parts.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Next meeting – Tuesday, May 21, 7pm at Ingleside Station.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
The streets around Precita Park are famous for glamorous style and a burgeoning array of amenities, but the SFPD’s Ingleside Station also identifies the area as a hotbed for smash-and-grab car break-ins. Neighbor Claudine reports that residents in the high-altitude reaches of Shotwell Street are fed up:
The rash of car break-ins continues on the North slope with Shotwell at Montezuma and Elsie as the latest targets . The hand-written signs posted up and down our street reflect the citizen concern that we are all getting broken in to nightly. There were two of us replacing our car windows on a recent morning at A1 Glass on Oakdale, where we had the pleasure of meeting one another as we bemoaned this epidemic, and shared notes about reporting the incidents to 311. More reports will hopefully equal more patrolling of our neighborhood!!!
The obvious thing that’s still worth saying is this: Do not leave anything visible in your parked car. Not just anything valuable; don’t leave anything visible whatsoever. Remove your garage door opener from your car. Notice also that the Mirabellians have their own mailing list to share information and foster vigilance. Subscribe and stay connected.
PHOTOS: Neighbor Claudine
Neighbor Sarah, your vigilant volunteer Bernal Heights crime reporter, attended the SFPD Ingleside Community meeting last week, and she filed these terrific summary notes on the latest Bernal Heights crime trends. Read on and stay safe:
Ingleside Community Meeting, 3/19/13
Captain Tim Falvey presided.
CRIME STATS & TRENDS
Increase in robberies +43% this month, iPhones and iPads are often the targets. Lately, 63% of robberies have occurred in the second half of the month. They do not know why. SFPD is ramping up abatement operations during that timeframe.
The captain mentioned an article in the Examiner about how the telecom industry has not been as helpful in the US as its counterparts in other countries have been at adding features that will decrease incentives for phone theft. For example, in Australia and the UK, a stolen phone can be permanently disabled. DA Gascon has suggested that the cell phone makers have perverse incentives not to do this because they want you to have to buy another phone to fulfill your contract.
Arrests are WAY up. Two suspects were arrested on 3/19 after they beat up some girls to get their phones. They were “not the brightest tools in the shed” because they were located nearby, hiding in bushes and splitting the profits. One was a known juvenile offender who just turned 18.
Burglaries – spreading the word about the trend where thieves steal garage-door openers from parked cars and then open garage later, stealing bikes and anything else. So far, presumably by chance, all the garages have been standalone and did not lead into the main house – otherwise, these could have been much worse. Do NOT leave your garage-door opener in your car – it’s like leaving your house key.
Lots of firearm seizures this year – 12 vs 5 last year. Recently made an arrest in a robbery with a gun – victim had known the suspect and had his license plate number.
Even though SFPD just got email a couple of years ago and are generally behind the times technologically, one area that has exploded is video – SFPD shares lots of video among all officers (from MUNI, businesses, etc) via email, and he estimates that 30% of the time, an officer recognizes the suspect in the video. One key thing – if you or your business have video, know how to use it, download it, etc. Many people do not.
Reminder – do not use your phone near the doors on MUNI. Lots and lots of thefts occur this way. Also, do not leave your laptop in your car, even for a second. Lots of thefts lately. Same with backpacks, even if they are empty. Finally, some people have left bikes in cars and gotten those stolen lately.
Auto thefts down a little – recoveries outpacing stolen vehicles. If you have a Honda from the 1990s, get the lock re-keyed, or have a club, or a lock on brake/gas pedal. One tip – if you ever locate your own stolen car, DO NOT DRIVE IT HOME. Police may see you and think you’ve stolen it (if you’ve reported it as being stolen).
Ingleside is doing a Fugitive Recovery operation soon – checking on parolees and people on probation, working with multiple agencies.
Ingleside also continues to do traffic calming in certain busy areas. If you see the radar trailer for a few days and then it disappears, be confident that enforcement (ie, tickets) will follow.
The captain often mentions the “three Es” of law enforcement: education, environment, and enforcement. Recently someone suggested a fourth E to him – ethics. One application of this is that you should not buy stolen goods – if you do, you’re part of the problem. If you’re buying a $3000 bike for $300, or getting a good deal on an iPhone at a sketchy corner store, you are part of the problem. And, by the way, it is a crime to possess property that is stolen or that you should know is stolen.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
National Night Out – Tuesday, August 6, Miraloma Park Improvement Club.
The Community Police Advisory Board will be doing several meetings in the community (including Bernal) this year.
The PAL Cadet Program – applications due early April. This is a summer program for 14-20-year-olds. Police academy training, then internship. Information on SFPD website. Participants must have a 2.0 GPA and stay in school. Statistics for staying in school are compelling. Something like 94% of homicide victims are dropouts. 90% of murderers are dropouts. 75% of people in San Quentin are dropouts.
Ret. Sgt. Mark Hernandez working with Capt. Lazar on ALERT program – Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team. Like NERT, but for law enforcement after disaster. Must complete NERT training first. http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?page@19
The Neighborhood Court program continues to look for people to be volunteer adjudicators for low-level cases dealt with through restorative justice. http://www.sfdistrictattorney.org/index.aspx?page8
Next meeting – April 16, 7pm. Jennifer Choi of the City Attorney’s office will be attendance to talk about how to deal with problem houses through city code enforcement – houses with drug activity, hoarding problems, places crimes keep occurring, etc.
OTHER TIDBITS
Rani Singh of the DA’s office was in attendance – rani.singh@sfgov.org; 415-753-7703 (w). She is onsite at Ingleside in the mornings.
One final random bit of trivia from this meeting – there is a law that states you cannot loiter within 21 feet of an ATM.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Bernalwood 