What deters theft: nothing (in the car)
Police strive to alert drivers — no loot, no smash-and-grab
Many San Franciscans sick of seeing that telltale puddle of glass next to their car and finding their valuables swiped are hoping the Police Department comes up with some clever, high-tech way to catch the prolific thieves.
You know, those guys who broke into more than 31,000 cars in 2017 — and those were just the break-ins reported to police. You know, the guys who were arrested just 1.6 percent of the time — worse odds than getting into Harvard, which takes 4.6 percent of applicants.
You can hope for fancy solutions, but you’re not going to get them.
What will really help combat this epidemic, said Police Chief Bill Scott, is about as basic as it gets. It’s educating people not to leave anything in their cars.
“Our best bet is to try to reduce these numbers by prevention,” Scott said in a recent interview at police headquarters on Third Street. “The fundamental purpose of law enforcement is to prevent crime, not to react to it.”
It’s a frustrating response that comes off as blaming the victim rather than going after the criminal. The 53year-old resident of Mission Bay, who has been on the job 14 months, knows it’s not the answer many residents want to hear, but he is adamant that it’s the right one.
“We don’t want to make people who’ve been victimized victimized again by saying it’s their fault,” he continued. “The thing I’m trying to say here is that what we need to do is really do a better job with getting people to
understand not to make themselves an easy target.”
Readers have sent in plenty of ideas for combatting car break-ins, including using bait cars to catch thieves in the act, attaching GPS devices to laptops in cars and fingerprinting cars for evidence.
Scott isn’t too wild about any of these. He called bait cars and planting GPS devices on items “plausible strategies,” but said they’re not very efficient. He said the department does fingerprint cars when owners bring them to district stations. But last year, the roughly 600 cars dusted for fingerprints led to arrests in only 20 cases.
He said his new strategies of assigning officers in district stations to focus exclusively on property crimes, including car break-ins, and assigning more foot patrols to walk beats are working. Police data show that car break-ins were 15 percent lower through the end of February of this year than in the same time span last year. Scott’s staff also praised the media focus on the issue, saying it’s helping raise awareness and, possibly, scare off criminals.
(By the way, Delon Terrance Barker, identified as the suspect in a car break-in observed by The Chronicle on Lombard Street and arrested in February on suspicion of breaking into cars in Vacaville, remains in jail in Solano County and is due in court Thursday.)
But overall, Scott is sure it’s the prevention measures that eventually will do the most good.
It’s kind of like studies telling you to exercise and eat your vegetables to maintain good health. You know they’re right, but what you really want to hear about is that big new scientific breakthrough that will cure cancer or stem heart attacks.
The Police Department’s “Park Smart!” campaign is definitely in the eating-your vegetables category. Police cadets — who are all college students working part-time — have been canvassing tourist hot spots, leaving notices on windshields and warning passersby.
I walked with the cadets around Fisherman’s Wharf on Monday morning. Just about every car we walked past had something visible inside, including phone chargers, shopping bags and, in one case, a bright-red backpack.
Sgt. Nelson Ramos, who runs the cadet program, said he can’t believe what he sees in parked cars: purses left on front seats, iPads left in cars with the windows rolled down, piles of luggage sitting inside just waiting to be snatched.
“A lot of people come from the airport and want to see the sights real quick. We say, ‘Way a minute. Someone’s going to break into the car,’ ” Nelson said. “We’re opening people’s eyes.”
The cadets stopped to talk to a German couple and their 11-year-old son. Ramos told them to hide their phone chargers in their glove compartment rather than leave them plugged in and visible.
“Even the cables?” asked Andreas Kubicki, 51. “Yes,” Nelson told them. Asked whether car break-ins are a problem at home, Kubicki said, “Not really, to be honest. No!”
Yeah, most tourists’ hometowns probably don’t feature huge tent encampments, human feces littering the sidewalks and people shooting needles into every body part in broad daylight either. Welcome to San Francisco!
By the way, Scott and I also talked about these other quality-of-life issues. I asked him why so many residents say they report car break-ins, tents blocking their front sidewalks or injection drug use and are told by police officers there’s nothing they can do.
Scott said no officers have told him about feeling stuck on these issues, and they shouldn’t be telling that to residents either.
“Some officers may get frustrated and feel that way, but there’s always something we can do,” he said.
He said it’s hard in San Francisco because there are activities that are illegal, like shooting up or blocking a sidewalk with your tent, that shouldn’t be criminalized. He said officers can eventually work through these issues by slowly getting people into services.
“We have to do this with some compassion,” he said. “Sometimes that takes a lot of patience, particularly if somebody’s got a mental crisis or they’re impaired by drugs or alcohol. It takes time, but we have to continue to try.”
There have been rumors that Scott is being wooed by his former employer, the Los Angeles Police Department. (Credit to Scott for truthfully admitting he’s still a Dodgers fan, another answer San Franciscans won’t want to hear.)
Asked about the rumor, Scott fidgeted in his chair and gave a nervous grin.
“This is a high-profile city — I’ve gotten interest from several cities,” he said. “Right now, I am focused on being the chief here.”
And how much longer will he stay?
“I like it here,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to do here.”
Now that’s something nobody could dispute. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf