November 27, 2007
Smash-and-Grabs Slowed
Perhaps in an effort to appease the masses for screwing them over on insane parking ticket allocations, the San Francisco Police Department, the Mayor's Office, and city prosecutors are working together to stop the city's most "overlooked crime": smash-and-grab auto burglaries. (Also known as "Boosts." Oh, that's fun name!)
With an average of 41 smash-and-grabs per day in SF, the Mayor's office created a special task force that arrests one boost-happy hoodlum per week, preventing "at least 10 to 20 [break-ins] per week," according Lt. Dave Lazar, who went on to say that "[o]ne person doesn’t break into just one car. They move on and target more." Which? True. We never thought of it that way. Booters are certainly tenacious, it seems.
SF Examiner's positively fellating article on the drop claims that since the Mayor's Office launched the program in September, it has "contributed to a 22 percent drop in incidents reported between October of this year (1,068) and October 2006. (1,373)." This, yes, is something to be proud of, for sure. But it runs the risk of ruining the glass-bit collage we've been working on, but...whatever.
And the best place to park in SF? A guarded, locked up garage, of course. And the worst place to park according to SFPD and Gav's Office? Find out after the jump!
» Folsom Street» Mission Street
» Tenth and Ninth streets
» Lombard Street
» Bush Street
» Golden Gate Avenue
» Franklin Street
» Post Street
» Geary Street and Boulevard
» Laguna Street
» Market Street
» Page Street
» Masonic Avenue
» Areas around the War Memorial Opera House and downtown theaters were also targeted.
Anywhere else?
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I'm glad to see that 100% of posts to SFist continue the trend of including the single-word sentence, "Which?" It makes the tone sound oh-so ditzy. Which? Hot.
I saw a pretty Audi on Octavia this morning sitting in a light dusting of broken glass....
I wish they had narrowed that list done to what parts of those streets are bad. Most of them cross the entire city from good parts to bad.
It is also weird they leave out the spots, under the elevated freeways and so on, where people abandon cars to be stripped.
Under the trees on Pierce between Hayes and Fell...always glass on the street. I am down 2 windows, though I am only out a couple dead bootleg tapes and a radar detector that probably hasn't worked since the 80s. Must be hippies boosting my car...hope they enjoy that sick help/slip/frank.
But that Fugazi bloke getting his stuff stolen is still funny.
I work on Ritch street where the club 330 Ritch is. I swear I come to work every morning and there's a fresh pile of broken glass everywhere. All over this area near the ball park in south of market is just terrible for smash and grabs.
Bah. Focusing on smash and grabs? What a waste of time/resources.
There is always a lot of broken glass on 4th St near Whole Foods.
Doesn't anyone know the rules? Either:
1) Litter your seats with trash or
2) Keep your seats immaculate and
3) Always leave the glove compartment open and empty.
Yup, I live south of market near whole foods. In the past few months three family members who came to visit have had their windows smashed. Total pain.
Living in SF for a long time in bad areas this hasn't happened to me
I can't for the life of me understand why people park nice cars on the street.
My relatives who work bluecollar jobs in SF or Oakland, often with work yards in bad areas, always have the ghetto hoop ride for street parking. Maybe throw on a Spanish radio station sticker or a KMEL jams on it and like the above mentioned throw some trash on the floor. Criminals will think your local and poor and leave it
I am happy to report that recently after some shit bag climbed in my window while someone was home the SFPD took that very seriously and actually caught the perp with prints
Is it inhumane to keep a live cobra in your glove compartment?
Sangfroid826: incredibly, this does not always work. Some crack-addled dumbass once broke into my car which contained nothing of value whatsoever. He broke the window even though the doors were left unlocked (it's a convertible) and stole the owner's manual, of all things.
The best part is, through some incredible happenstance, the guy was busted by the Pacifica police in possession of said manual imprinted with the VIN of my car, and they returned it to me. The guy did a couple weeks in jail for this bone-headed move.
When I used to live on Buchanan at Haight I had to contend with 4 smash n grabs in a 2 month window. So shitty, and I always kept my car empty. After the second smashy smashy my glove box was busted, always hung open with nothing inside and not a week later was robbed again! And I drive a not-at-all fancy Corolla.
I lived in Oakland for 6 years and never once had a break in. Although I was robbed at gunpoint...
bla bla bla. don't own a car?
Upper Market in the Castro. Several friends have had their cars broken into there. One finally got so sick of it (his car was broken into three times during the course of a month) that he donated his vehicle to KQED and now uses Zipcar.
I walk down Harrison or Bryant everyday on my way into work. There's always broken glass on the sidewalks and gutters. I also see a number of cars with notes on their windows that read:
ATTENTION! THERE NEVER HAS BEEN, NOR WILL THERE EVER BE, ANYTHING OF VALUE IN THIS CAR. PLEASE DO NOT BREAK THE WINDOWS
Not sure how effective that is but I haven't seen any of their windows busted out... yet.