5 cities to be given nearly $4 million to fight car break-ins

With a surge in car break-ins happening Bay Area wide, several cities in the East Bay and South Bay stand to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to combat the growing problem.

Police departments in San Jose, Fremont, Santa Clara, Milpitas, and Newark — some of which have seen record numbers of break-ins in recent years — will get $750,000 each in the coming weeks, Assembly member Kansen Chu said.

The money — which comes from state surplus funds — could be used to support public awareness campaigns, outreach to businesses in hot spots for the crimes and to fund overtime so more officers can investigate the cases and share information with other departments, Chu’s office said in a statement.

Local police departments will have the

ultimate say in how to apply the funds to limit the crimes, though most say they are still figuring out the best way to spend the funds.

Chu said that after speaking with some of the police chiefs and city councils about the problem of car break-ins in the 25th Assembly District he represents, he “realized it’s very difficult for them to allocate money to just address this issue,” said Chu, who made a one-time request for the money during the budget process and got it approved.

“Luckily this year, we had some surplus, so I’m just fortunate to get that $3.75 million for the five cities,” Chu said during an interview this week.

The local departments are “really short of people power to address many issues,” and he’s hoping an extra push to educate residents and visitors about break-ins to avoid becoming a target will help the departments’ efforts.

And even as Bay Area authorities have had some successes in the fight — such as a major bust of a laptop computer theft ring last year — it’s still an increasingly frustrating problem for many residents.

For instance, Santa Clara, a city of about 130,000, saw a nearly 90% spike in smash and grabs from 2016 to 2017, from 947 to 1,791, and in 2018, that number ticked up slightly again for a total of 1,826.

Lt. Todd Cummins of the Santa Clara Police Department said the department has been working to inform people of the crimes through social media campaigns and by placing flyers on cars in the hot spots around the city.

“Our issues are mostly at shopping centers, restaurants and businesses that are near expressways and freeways. Those are the ones getting hit the hardest because those locations allow a convenient way for our suspects to flee the area after they’re done,” Cummins said.

Both Santa Clara and Fremont have cops working overtime — in both marked and unmarked cars — to patrol parking lots where there has been a high rate of the crimes.

Cummins said from May to June of this year, Santa Clara saw a roughly 31% decrease in thefts from cars, which he’s hopeful is a sign the work on multiple fronts is paying off. He added that the funding from the state could help beef up some of those efforts. Police in multiple cities are encouraging business owners to install video cameras and put up signs and posters to warn people to take their valuables with them as well.

Fremont in 2017 saw its highest number of car break-ins in more than a decade at 2,078, according to state crime statistics. It dipped down to 1,850 last year, but through June of this year, break-ins are occurring at nearly the pace of 2017, according to Geneva Bosques, the department’s spokeswoman.

The department also has been using social media to remind people to take their belongings with them whenever leaving their car, even if its only for a quick moment to grab a coffee or run an errand.

Bosques said thieves mostly have been targeting laptops and small electronics. Police also warn that some criminals use devices to detect Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals coming from devices left in cars, so even hiding them from view may not be enough.

From 2016 to 2018, San Jose saw a nearly 21% uptick in break-ins, to a total of 6,208 last year, and Milpitas, a city of about 80,000, saw a jump of about 27% during the same time, to 701. And officials say the number is growing so far this year.

Newark, a small enclave of Fremont with nearly 50,000 residents, also hit a 10-year high in 2017 at 631 vehicle break-ins, though it dropped back to 513 in 2018.

“This is definitely good news for the community, and bad news for thieves,” Sgt. Enrique Garcia of the San Jose Police Department said about the funding.

Though police say they’ll do what they can to nab the criminals, people should take the first steps to protect themselves.

“The best solution is really for people to get the message out there to take their valuables with them,” Milpitas Assistant Police Chief Kevin Moscuzza said Thursday.

Chu said he’ll hope to hear back from department leaders at the end of the year about how the money is being used and whether or not it was effective at helping lower the number of break-ins.

“It is a quality-of-life issue; it is a public safety issue,” Chu said. “And if we can be successful in the five cities that I represent, I’m hoping we can expand this money throughout California.”