Car break-ins out of hand
Police say incidents way up, prosecutions nearly impossible

Monday, April 2, 2007

Thieves broke into cars in San Francisco an average of 43 times a day last year, police statistics show. The 15,776 car break-ins or attempted break-ins accounted for more than half the reported petty thefts in the city in 2006 and represented a 20 percent increase from the year before. Overall, petty thefts were up 8 percent.

Startling enough, but cops we talked with say the problem — especially with cars — could be two to three times greater than the numbers indicate.

“People tend to report the first time they get hit,” said Ingleside Station Capt. Paul Chignell, who worked for years on the police auto detail. “Then they find out that their insurance doesn’t cover it” — the deductible is often higher than the loss — “so they just stop reporting.”

Most of the car boosts occur in and around downtown. But the trail of broken glass is becoming increasingly common across the city.
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Mirkarimi said the “come down and fill out a report” response is giving residents the impression that law enforcement has given up on low-level crimes, and that “people are just supposed to get used to the idea of waking up to the sight of broken glass.” It’s an attitude he calls very distressing.

But look at it from the cops’ point of view. To chase down those 15,000-plus car break-ins — and the thefts of cars themselves — the department’s auto detail has a grand total of five investigators.

And unless the cops catch a thief actually breaking into the car, the chances of serious charges being filed are slim.
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The smash-and-grab syndrome has gotten so bad, Dudley said, that people are leaving their cars unlocked with cards on the dashboard that read, “Nothing to steal.”

Last year, police made 513 felony arrests for auto break-ins. That comes to about 1 for every 30 reported crimes.

Of those 513 arrests, 315 people were charged, 219 were convicted, 14 had their cases dismissed, and 82 are still waiting for their day in court.

Of the ones who were convicted, 56 repeat offenders went off to state prison, while the rest got county jail time, probation or a combination of both.
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It’s a familiar complaint, one we’ve heard time and time again: too much crime, too few cops, no will in the courts to put away nonviolent offenders, and no room in the jails even if prosecutors get a conviction.

The result is a revolving door between the jail and the street — and a pile of smashed car glass on the sidewalk.