[Reprinted from The Richmond Police Station Newsletter of June 1, 2012. To be added to the station’s mailing list, email sfpd.richmond.station@sfgov.org.]
CAPTAIN ERIC VINTERO’S MESSAGE
You are cordially invited to attend a special community meeting on Monday, June 4, from 6 to 8 PM. Come hear District Attorney George Gascón discuss the expansion of the Neighborhood Prosecutor and Neighborhood Courts program.
DA Gascón launched a new initiative in May 2011 to quickly resolve low level crimes through community leadership and restorative justice. Low level crimes will be immediately referred to the neighborhood court neighborhood panels for non-criminal resolutions that combine accountability with neighborhood improvement.
DA Gascón will be joined by Supervisor Eric Mar, and Richmond Station Captain Eric Vintero.
At the meeting, you will learn about the new model, get a chance to dialogue with the DA, and learn how you can volunteer to serve as a neighborhood court adjudicator. The meeting will be held at: Richmond District Station Community Room, 461 6th Avenue / Bet. Geary Blvd. and Anza Street.
For more information about the meeting, please call Rebecca Prozan at Rebecca.prozan@sfgov.org or 558.2449 or Jackson Gee, 575.6328 or Jackson.Gee@sfgov.org.
CRIME UPDATES/PATTERNS:
The Richmond Police District has seen a slight spike in robberies over the past two weeks. Officers have made arrests in a few of the robberies, including a bank robbery on California Street (this suspect was responsible for 3 robberies, citywide), and an arrest of a juvenile suspect who was responsible for two strong-arm robberies. Two of the robberies involved victims who were riding MUNI buses late at night and were using their smart-phone devices. Expensive smart-phone devices continue to be the number one item stolen during robberies (city-wide). Richmond Station investigators will be working hard to follow up on leads and investigate these crimes.
Auto-burglaries continue to occur in the area of the Legion of Honor, Point Lobos, the Great Highway , and Golden Gate Park. Please remember not to leave anything inside of your parked car. We will be increasing patrols in these areas, and will increase our under-cover operations in these areas. Please call 911 to report any suspicious persons or vehicles which may be casing vehicles. Also, we have seen numerous reports of vehicles being broken into while parked inside of shared apartment building garages. Please remember not to leave any valuables inside of your car while parked in such garages, as criminals often target these areas because they are well sheltered and they do not need to worry about passerby’s calling the police on them.
TRAFFIC ISSUES:
For the past several weeks, Officers at Richmond Station have been focusing on school safety issues, such as citing motorists who fail to stop for a school bus which is picking up or dropping off children. California Vehicle Code section 22454(a) requires motorists to stop for school busses which are picking up and dropping off students. Next month, several Officers will be attending LIDAR training (similar to radar). This will give us the ability to conduct more speeding enforcement operations on problematic corridors such as Geary, Point Lobos, Fulton, Park Presidio, and Crossover Drive .
SFPD WEBSITE
The SFPD has a new web address. The new address is www.sanfranciscopolice.org. This website has extremely valuable information such as safety tips, available city services and resources, a SFPD directory, and current city-wide crime statistics. Please visit the website as it is a great source of information.
SFPD MEDAL OF VALOR CEREMONY:
On Wednesday, May 30, 2012, Officers Troy Carrasco and William Heppler from Richmond Station were awarded the Silver Medal of Valor, for an officer involved shooting which occurred on October 3, 2011. This was an incident where an individual with a long history of mental issues fatally stabbed his mother and seriously wounded his father. Several Officers including Officer Carrasco, and Heppler responded to the residence and bravely rescued the sister and mother from the residence (the mother later died from her injuries). Officer Carrasco and Officer Heppler are two of Richmond Station’s finest, most hard working, and professional Officers. We are very proud of them for this outstanding work.
Our next Community meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 7pm. It will be in the Community Room, here at Richmond Station, 461 6th Ave.
NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS
On 05/26/12 at 2:30am, the victim was walking on the 3400 block of Geary Blvd. He heard the sound of footsteps running from behind him and as he turned around, the suspect jumped in the air and tackled him to the ground. The suspect was yelling at the victim to “calm down” and then told the victim he was going to beat him up. The victim was telling the suspect to get off of him and finally was able to push him away. The victim met up with his girlfriend and the suspect continued to follow, yelling at the victim. The victim and his girlfriend went into a nearby restaurant and told the employee to call the police, as the suspect was now standing outside yelling at the victim to come out and fight him. The victim sat at a table awaiting the arrival of the officers and the suspect came right up to the window and continued to threaten to assault both the victim and his girlfriend. The suspect began to punch at the window and finally kicked it, causing it to shatter. The suspect took off running and two employees from the restaurant chased and caught up with him at the corner. The 21 year old male was charged with vandalism and being under the influence of alcohol.
On 05/26/12 at 3pm, officers were called to the area of Park Presidio and Cabrillo regarding a vehicle driving recklessly and that the driver was possibly under the influence. The caller was reporting near collisions as the driver was swerving all over the road. The driver had also fallen asleep at a red signal light. The officer located the vehicle on Park Presidio just north of Lake St . and was able to affect a traffic stop. It was determined that the 23 year old male was driving under the influence and was charged accordingly.
On 05/25/12, at a phone store at Stonestown Shopping Mall, three males entered and stole two phones. On 05/26/12 at 4:50pm, one of the males went to the phone store on the 3500 block of Geary and tried to activate the phone. When told by the employee that the phone was listed as stolen the suspect became irate and began to argue with the employees. The police were called to the scene and the suspect was detained. The suspect was on probation and was subject to a search condition and officer located narcotics on his person and vehicle. Also located in the trunk of his vehicle was material for producing fake credit cards. The phone taken from Stonestown was recovered. The 50 year old male was charged with burglary, possession of stolen property, narcotic and fraud violations.
On 05/27/12 at 5:26am, officers were patrolling the area of the 3400 block of Washington. They observed the suspect walking eastbound and when he noticed the officers he quickly turned end entered the front steps of a residence. When the officers stopped the vehicle, he exited the steps and tried to walk away. The suspect was detained and when asked for identification he provided his name and told the officers he was on parole. When asked if he lived at the residence he had just come from he told the officers that he was walking to the bus stop. When they told him they had seen him attempt to hide, the suspect replied, “You guys are the police and it’s just a natural reaction.” The officers conducted a search of the suspect and his backpack and found numerous tools and bike lock keys. The 38 year old male was charged with possession of burglar tools and a parole violation.
On 05/29/12 at 3:03am, officers were called to a traffic collision on Park Presidio and Crossover Drive . A vehicle that had been traveling north on Park Presidio attempted to make the left hand turn onto Crossover, and struck a light pole. A witness on the scene told the officers he had observed the driver swerving on Park Presidio and from the middle lane, made the left turn against the red light and hit the pole. Officers observed signs of intoxication from the driver who also admitted that he “had a lot to drink.” The driver was transported to the hospital for medical treatment and the 88 year old male was eventually charged with driving under the influence.
On 05/30/12 at 1:54am, an officer who had just reported off work from Richmond Station was driving on 6th Ave at Balboa. As he was stopped at the light he observed one male standing on the corner talking on his cell phone. He then looked towards his left and observed another male running from a building on the 400 block of Balboa and hide behind a pick-up truck. As the officer continued towards 5th Ave and Balboa he could see the suspect trying to hide was also on a phone. The officer parked his vehicle and observed the two from a position of cover and saw that the male who kept ducking down would walk over to a roll up metal door and spray paint it and when a car would come, or he was being alerted by his cohort, he would run and hide. The officer contacted other officers who arrived on scene just as the two were leaving in a vehicle. A stop was conducted on the vehicle and the two males were detained. Officers located 8 spray paint cans in the vehicle. They also located photos on one of the suspect’s phones that show the same graffiti tag on other buildings. Some of those buildings were identified. The two, an 18 year old and a 20 year old were charge with vandalism.
NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS
On 05/25/12, between 2:05pm and 3pm on the 300 block of 2nd Ave , a suspect gained entry into a garage and broke into a vehicle parked inside. The suspect took a laptop. There were no signs of forced entry.
On 05/25/12 at 9:11pm, officers responded to Post and Broderick Sts on a call of a robbery that had just occurred. The victim told the officers that she had been on a 38 Geary MUNI line traveling outbound. At some point after Geary and Van Ness, the suspect grabbed the victim’s phone from her hand and ran off the bus. The victim chased after the suspect who at one point yelled at the victim to stop chasing her otherwise she would get pepper sprayed. The victim continued, pleading for the return of her phone. Finally at Post and Broderick Sts the suspect stopped and the victim offered her money for the return of her phone. The suspect told the victim to give her $40.00, but the victim didn’t have that much. The suspect then told her to go to a nearby ATM machine to get cash, but the victim told her she didn’t have a debit card. Finally the suspect took the cash that the victim did have and returned her phone to her. The suspect fled west on Post St . She was described as a black female, 20-25 years of age, 5’8”, and 180lbs wearing a gray zip up hooded sweatshirt.
On 05/25/12 at 9:30pm on the 2400 block of Sutter a suspect entered a business and asked for a pack of cigarettes. The clerk grabbed them off the shelf and when he turned around he saw the suspect was holding a knife. The suspect swore at the clerk and grabbed the cigarettes off the counter and ran out of the store. He was described as a Hispanic male, 30-32yrs, with shoulder length dark hair.
On 05/27/12 between 7:40pm and 10:30pm on the 600 block of El Camino Del Mar, a suspect attempted to gain access into a residence by breaking a window. After failing, the suspect then entered the home through an unlocked door. The loss is being determined.
On 05/29/12 at 10:30am, the victim was in the bedroom of her home in the area of Locust and Pacific Ave. She noticed that her bedroom door opened and the suspect was standing outside appearing to be surprised that she was there. The suspect then fled the home in an unknown direction. There appears to be no loss and entry was made through an open back door. The suspect was described as a black male, 25-30 years, wearing a yellow jacket.
On 05/29/12 at 3:15am, the victim boarded a 5 Fulton MUNI bus heading outbound from McAllister and Jones St . He noticed that the suspects boarded at the same stop. The victim got off at Fulton and Parker and walked north on Parker Ave. He heard several people running towards him and he was suddenly encircled by the 5 suspects, one of them holding a firearm to his head. The suspects demanded the victim’s cell phone which he handed over and they all began to search his pockets. They took his wallet and removed the cash from within and fled south on Parker Ave. The suspects were described as 4 black males, 18-23 years of age, two armed with handguns and a Hispanic male armed with a knife. The Hispanic male was wearing a multi-colored jacket.
On 05/30/12 at 4:30am a cab driver was flagged down at 18th and Geary Blvd. The suspect told the cab driver to take him to a location on the other side of Golden Gate Park . As the cab driver entered the park at Arguello and Fulton, the suspect pulled out a handgun and told the driver to pull over. He then told the driver to exit the cab and demanded his money. He also took the victim’s watch and told the victim to walk away. As the victim was leaving the suspect called him back and asked him to start the engine on the cab, (it was a hybrid vehicle that the suspect was apparently unfamiliar with). When the victim told him it was already on, the suspect told him again to leave. The victim ran out of the park onto Fulton and Arguello and called 911. When officers arrived on scene, they entered the park and found the taxi in the same spot, unattended and the suspect gone. He was described as a white male, 40-50 years of age, 6’1, and 160lbs wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.