[Reprinted from The Richmond Police Station Newsletter of January 21, 2011. To be added to the station’s mailing list, email sfpd.richmond.station@sfgov.org.]
CAPTAIN RICHARD CORRIEA’S MESSAGE
We have had several thefts from apartment buildings in the last week where the suspect(s) pried open a key box located on the exterior of a building and stole the keys. These key boxes contain keys to a building’s front door or tradesman entrance, which are used by certain utility workers and service providers to access the building. In at least one case the suspect used the keys to get into a garage. Please take a look at the lock box on your building and if shows signs of tampering or doesn’t seem secure, please alert the building’s owner or manager. In addition, please suggest to them that it is a good idea to locate the box in an area where it is highly visible to passers-by. This will discourage a thief because it can take a bit of time to pry open a box and visibility increases the risk that the police will be notified while the crime is in progress. Burglars are not adventure seekers. They use stealth and are risk averse. As you raise the risk of capture you increase the odds that the felon will seek a safer target.
On another note, street robberies continue to occur in the District. Robbers are interested in the electronic items that you carry with you. They want your cellular telephone, your computer and your handheld Apple products. They target folks that are distracted by using such items while in public areas. Please don’t use your portable electronics while walking on the street or riding public transportation. If you must use them, be mindful that while focusing on your electronic device your senses, like hearing and sight, which normally work for you to identify threats, are busied on other tasks. It is at such times when you lack of situational awareness that a crook sees his or her opportunity.
For more information about how to manage your risk of being a crime victim, please contact SFSAFE at 553.1984 or visit their website at www.sfsafe.org.
During the past week in the District there were 26 traffic accidents 5 involving injuries. There were 6 citations issued for driving without a license or driving on a suspended license. There was 1 arrest for driving under the influence.
NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS
On 01/18/11 at 11:35pm an officer responded to the 5300 block of Geary on a report of an intoxicated male who was refusing to leave a business. The caller, an employee at the business, told the officer that the business was closed and the male was asleep at a table. When the caller asked the subject to leave he told her to leave him alone as he was trying to sleep. The officer approached the sleeping man attempted to wake him. The man became verbally abusive with the officer. Again the officer told the suspect to leave and the male stood up, stumbled around and came at the officer with his hands balled up in a fist, and threatened the officer. The officer pushed the suspect back. The man then lay down on the floor and fell asleep again. Finally he got up and as the officer was walking him out of the restaurant the man turned and began to fight the officer. After a struggle the officer was finally able to detain the male. The 26 year old was charged with battery on an officer, resisting arrest and being drunk in public.
On 01/19/11 at 3:50am officers were driving north on Arguello towards Clement Street. They saw two males standing in front of a building on the west side of the street. When the two saw the officers, one ducked down behind a parked van and the other walked south towards Geary Boulevard. The officers told the males to stop so they could speak with them and both took off running north on Arguello to westbound on Clement. Once the suspects reached 2nd Avenue, one suspect went north on 2nd Avenue, the other went south. The officers caught up with both males and detained them. The officers went back to Arguello were they first saw the suspects and found fresh graffiti on the front fence of a building. The black paint was still wet to the touch and a bottle of black shoe polish on the ground. Both of the suspects had black paint on their fingertips. The 22 year old males were charged with graffiti and delaying arrest.
NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS
Between 01/15/11 8pm and 01/16/11 at 4pm on the 3300 block of California Street , a suspect gained entry into a garage and took a bike. The suspect had pried open a lock box that contained a key for the mail carrier and garbage men and was able to get into the garage.
Between 01/15/11 at 11:30pm and 01/16/11 at 7:30am on the 3700 block of Geary, a suspect gained entry into a business and took cash and a computer.
Between 01/16/11 at 5pm and 01/17/11 at 6:35am on the 2300 block of Clement Street a suspect gained entry into a business by smashing a rear office window. The suspect took cash, coffee and a camera.
Between 01/16/11 at 6pm and 01/17/11 at 5:00am on the 3400 block of Geary, a suspect gained entry into a business by throwing a brick through the front window. The suspect took cash.
Between 01/16/11 at 10:30pm and 01/17, 9am on the 3700 block of Geary the suspect gained entry into a business by throwing a brick through the front glass door. The suspect took a laptop.
Between 01/16/11 at 11pm and 01/17/11 at 8am on the 300 block of 8th Ave, a suspect gained entry into a garage via a back yard door. The suspect then broke into a car parked in the garage and took clothing, cash and a GPS unit.
On 01/17/11 at 3:00am officers responded to an alarm call on the unit block of Clement Street . ThE officers saw that the glass on the front door had been smashed with a brick. The suspect took cash.
Between 01/17/11 4:15pm and 01/18/11 8:30am on the 1800 block of Balboa Street , a suspect entered an office by prying the lock off a bathroom window. The suspect took a laptop.
On 01/17/11 at 6:55pm, a victim was on an outbound #5 Fulton MUNI bus. As bus came to a stop at Fulton and Arguello, two suspects approached the victim. One punched the victim in the chest, and the other grabbed his I-phone from his hand. The suspects exited the bus and ran north on Arguello. They were described as males in their mid-teens, one wearing a beige sweatshirt.