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San Francisco supervisors continue hearing on surge in vehicle burglaries after DA and SFPD brief committee
Summary
Supervisors heard data and tactics from the District Attorney's Office and SFPD on rising auto burglaries, including a multi-agency operation that sharply reduced Zipcar thefts; the committee continued the item for follow-up after residents urged more cameras, bait cars and neighborhood enforcement.
Supervisors at the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on March 10 continued a hearing on a citywide rise in vehicle burglaries after presentations from the District Attorney nd the San Francisco Police Department on data, enforcement and prevention strategies.
The District Attorney n office representative told the committee that auto burglaries have driven much of the increase in property crime over recent years. The presenter said the office compared the first eight months of 2014 and 2015 to make an "apples-to-apples" comparison and reported roughly 33,000 incidents in 2014 versus about 39,000 in 2015. Of those auto-burglary incidents reported to police in one period cited, 487 arrests were presented to the DA's office (about 2 percent of incidents), and the office has increased its charging or action rate from roughly 63 percent to about 80 percent in the most recent year.
The DA representative described a "Crime Strategies Unit" that uses hot-spot analysis and longer-term case review to connect seemingly separate incidents. As an example, the office and partners investigated an apparent series of Zipcar thefts: prosecutors and law enforcement arrested two suspects after analysis linked roughly 80 thefts to those individuals; the presenter said the number of thefts by that group dropped from dozens to three after the arrests.
SFPD Commander Greg McEachern told the committee the department has refocused a Patrol Bureau Task Force (PBTF) on vehicle break-ins, increasing dedicated staff to about a dozen officers with plans to add several more and to expand toward 20 officers as staffing allows. McEachern said the PBTF uses ComStat heat maps to target repeat offenders and problem locations and works with Recreation and Park and other city agencies to deploy signage and, where possible, surveillance cameras. He described a program to register private cameras so law enforcement can request footage for investigations.
Supervisors and residents pressed for additional deterrence and follow-up. Supervisor David Campos and others asked about expanding bait cars and about the national context for clearance rates; committee members and public commenters urged more rapid placement of cameras in hot spots and better information-sharing so communities understand when and how to report incidents. Several public commenters from Bernal/Bridal Heights described repeated victimization, saying a small number of repeat offenders account for a large share of incidents and that local residents sometimes stop reporting because they believe it will not lead to action. One public speaker said superior court judges' sentencing practices contribute to a "revolving door" problem; the DA nd SFPD respondents said sentencing and sentencing outcomes are state processes, but encouraged community participation in court and noted they are coordinating to present stronger evidence to prosecutors and judges.
The committee voted to continue the hearing to the call of the chair to allow follow-up on coordinated enforcement, bait-car and camera deployment, and updates on arrest and prosecution outcomes.
What happens next: The committee will reconvene the item at the chair—all to receive progress reports and to consider additional requests from supervisors and community leaders about resource deployment and interagency coordination.
