In the past few weeks on multiple occasions, we’ve driven by the Cliff House and seen a SFPD patrol car parked next to a car with a smashed window, taking a report from bewildered tourists.
We received another report from a local reader who came across a dismayed family of tourists in Golden Gate Park. They parked on JFK Drive near Ocean Beach to visit and photograph the historic Dutch Windmill. When they returned to their car just a few minutes later, their window was smashed and items had been stolen.
The story is always the same: A tourist parks at a scenic spot or landmark, exits their vehicle and locks it, and then goes to enjoy the view or see the landmark. Upon returning to their car, sometimes just a few minutes later, they find a window smashed out on their car. Most times, items have been taken from the car. But sometimes they’re just left with a broken window.
The end result? Tourists returning home with their grisly “guess what happened to us in SF?!” story instead of talking about the sights or what a great time they had. Not to mention the struggle many tourists encounter just trying to engage the SFPD so a report can be filed for the car rental damage. Tip: You can file a police report online with SFPD for car break-ins.
Car Break-In Turns Violent When Tourist Is Run Over by Suspects
On Tuesday, July 9, the typical car break like the ones described above took a very violent, disturbing turn.
A man was standing in the Legion of Honor parking lot just after 4pm, when two men pulled up in a silver vehicle across the lot. One of the men got out, and attempted to break into the man’s parked car.
The bystander, a tourist from South Carolina, pulled out his cellphone to take photos of the thieves and their vehicle. That’s when things went very wrong.
The thief got back in the car to join his accomplice, and the car then drove toward the tourist, running him over on the way out of the parking lot.
The victim suffered head and collarbone injuries, and was taken to the hospital by emergency crews who responded to the call that came in at 4:30pm. The man was upgraded to stable condition later that night.
In the weekly Richmond District police newsletter, the suspects were described as “Black Males wearing gray hoodies. The Vehicle is described as a silver 4 door BMW. Both Suspects and the Vehicle are still outstanding.”
Car Burglaries Are An Epidemic in San Francisco
These types of car break-ins happen over 1,000 times per month in San Francisco. In June, 1,899 vehicle break-ins were reported in San Francisco, or roughly 63 per day.
In the Richmond District alone last week, there were 29 car burglaries, and those are just the ones that are reported. Of the 29 cars that were broken into, 79% of them were rental cars. The majority of them were on Golden Gate Park or along Geary Boulevard. Welcome to SF Mr. & Ms. Tourist!
Golden Gate Park and popular tourist destinations like the Cliff House and crooked Lombard Street – even at the height of their visitation on a busy day – are targets for burglars.
The burglars often use walking or biking “lookouts” to peer into cars and send word back to the thieves in getaway cars about which cars to target based on their belongings. A quick smash and grab, jump back in the car, and they’re off to their next burglary long before the victims even notice.
Back in April, police warned that Golden Gate Park was a hot-spot for break-ins. According to KPIX 5, police received 168 reports of car break-ins in Golden Gate Park from January through the end of March. That’s 56 a month, nearly two a day.
Fast forward to July, the height of tourist season, and the trend continues. Last week alone, 10 car break-ins were reported in Golden Gate Park.
There’s even a twitter account to document the epidemic – https://twitter.com/sfcarbreakins.
Watching them break into a car live on my commute to work ??@CitizenApp is the new Cops pic.twitter.com/QXqYKI7UBe
— Robert Martin (@Brotractor) July 8, 2019
Are Cameras the Answer?
Given the thieves’ response to being photographed while committing their crimes in the Legion of Honor parking lot – to run over the photographer – capturing their vehicle, faces and more on video clearly causes concerns to the burglars. So why not install surveillance cameras in these hot spots to deter the crimes?
Imagine if cameras were trained on the parking spots alongside the Cliff House, or along key stretches of Golden Gate Park. The presence of the cameras alone would deter some thieves. SFPD can’t be everywhere all the time, so why not rely on technology to do some of the policing?
Perhaps we can get back to tourists extolling the beauty of our bridges and parks, instead of bemoaning the crimes they experienced or witnessed while visiting San Francisco.
We don’t know if the poor South Carolina tourist who was mowed down actually managed to film or photograph anything useful for the police. But here’s hoping he did, and they can use that imagery to find the men who committed the hit and run.
Sarah B.
Visitors to #SF’s popular @legionofhonor museum are returning today after car break-in & assault that saw Oregon man seriously injured. Today, there’s shattered glass in at least 10 parking spots, by my count. What is this doing to city’s tourism and business? @nbcbayarea 5/6pm pic.twitter.com/kXcIMv17J1
— Sam Brock (@SamNBCBayArea) July 10, 2019
This happened to my daughter just today!! Her car is parked in Golden Gate park and thieves smashed the windows. Should she call the police? Please let readers know what they should do it this happens. Thanks
@Judy – I’m really sorry to hear that. Yes, PLEASE do file a police report. You can do it online by visiting https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/get-service/police-reports/file-police-report and clicking on the language you prefer. The more data they have on these break-ins, the better they can assess the urgency of this problem.
I don’t believe cameras are the answer, because even if someone’s caught on film, the police are powerless to prosecute. This article details further: https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Gone-in-5-seconds-SF-neighborhood-police-12545144.php
One word: decoys.
It’s the same all over the city. SOMA. GGP. Tourist areas. I’d prefer more action and less “assessing” in this city. Then again, businesses on Market St. have to pay the SFPD for additional patrols (who’s there to extort for additional SFPD protection in the parks?). HAVE TO PAY! And then, what do the SFPD do? Stand around on their phones with coffees. But thank God we banned straws… Until the leadership takes lawlessness and anarchy permeating the city seriously, and stops enabling the cretins, then these and other social ills will remain. I’m angry. There are many good cops, but there aren’t enough on the beat. There aren’t enough with credible leaders. There aren’t enough with a unified city-wide mandate for action with support, leadership, and vision by the board of supervisors.
Bait cars. Nothing egregious to justify a claim of entrapment. Just leave a cellphone or a backpack inside a locked car. Arrest and prosecute thief. Hopefully the new DA will back this approach.
I walk our dog most days in GGP, often around Stow Lake. Seems like almost every day we go come by a vehicle with a busted-through window or a pile(s) of glass shards on the payment if the vehicle has moved on.
there are cameras at stonestown….there were two smash and grabs when i drove into stonestown on friday early afternoon….EARLY AFTERNOON….IN A LOT FILLED WITH PEOPLE WALKING AROUND…these crews dont care because they know that all they are gonna get is a slap on the wrist because we are so afraid of mass incarceration….MAKE IT A FELONY AGAIN
We are visiting from Wisconsin, and our rental car windows were smashed at the Legion of Honors Museum just this morning. We were gone from our vehicle for less that 15 minutes. There were other people standing and talking in the parking lot who were shocked when we told them and asked if they heard or saw anything. You are right. We will be going home and sharing this awful violation with friends and family and will tell them not to go to SF…it is unsafe and not enough is being done about it. We will be putting our story on Trip Advisor, too
We got our rear window smashed yesterday (10/25) in Golden Gate Park. Thought I parked in a safe and open area with tons of tourists passing by. Bummer. I won’t be visiting again until this problem is addressed.
We parked our rental on stow lake dr. Mind you with about 15 other cars. I happened to notice one man when we had gotten out of the car starring at us. I really didn’t think anything of it. We left to enjoy the paddle boats for an hour. Only to return with the car window broken & a few things stolen. It cost more to fix the window than what they stole. Ugh!!!