Two different groups of tourists had their belongings – including their passports – stolen from their cars during a broad daylight smash-and-grab as they briefly visited the beaches in crime-ridden San Francisco.
A family of tourists from Malta were seen calling police as they stood in an Ocean Beach parking lot after their rental car was vandalized, leaving broken glass strewn on the ground, an Instagram video taken last week by Matty Lopez and shared by journalist Arisley T. Pacheco shows.
When Lopez approached the family, who seemed upset by the incident, he asked an unnamed woman: “What happened? You go to the beach for five minutes.”
The woman then replied that they had been gone for at most 10 minutes when the intrepid thieves “took everything we had – passports, cameras, phones, iPads, laptops, luggage – everything.”
He noted that it was only the family’s second day in the city, and they were already planning to go home because of the terrible theft.
Just five minutes after speaking with him, Lopez found a separate tourist whose rear windshield was broken, he said in a separate video.
“So I don’t think this is an isolated incident,” he said, before asking one of the European tourists what happened.
A video posted to Instagram shows the rear windshield of the tourist family’s rental vehicle damaged. Matty Lopez/Instagram
A woman from Malta said they were gone for at most 10 minutes when the break-in happened. Matty Lopez/Instagram
A man replied that while they were leaving, the thieves took their luggage and backpacks.
The video was posted to Instagram last Thursday, but it’s unclear if that’s when the break-in happened.
The Post has reached out to the San Francisco Police Department for more information.
Many linked the incident to the increased crime rate in the Bay City, with one Instagram user asking: “Why don’t people learn not to visit California?”
Another said it was “sad you can’t have your back for one [second],” lamented that San Francisco “used to be a tourist Mecca, now it’s a forgotten city.”
And the third just said, “You can’t leave anything in your car anymore.”
In August, the San Francisco Police Department reported nearly 1,670 car break-ins, accounting for nearly 10,000 vehicle thefts.
The unnamed woman appeared distraught over the incident, saying she and her family would likely return home after just two days as a result of the incident. Matty Lopez/Instagram
Criminals often engage in “bipping and boosting,” a process in which they break car windows, grab what they can and quickly drive away, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which says thieves can often target several parked vehicles in a day.
It says tourists often become attractive victims because they travel with luggage or buy expensive items that they keep in their rental cars.
But while the number of car break-ins has increased over the years – with 2,500 car break-ins reported for every 100,000 residents in 2020 – the number of arrests is down.
A 2016 report blamed a spike in car break-ins that began in 2011 on the police force decentralizing its investigative unit as it moved toward “community policing.”
The Civilian Grand Jury that commissioned the report believes the model — in which officers are assigned to patrol specific neighborhoods — makes the department “ineffective” in curbing organized gangs that commit carjackings across the city.
It is estimated that this group is responsible for 70 to 80 percent of all incidents.
The mirrors of other vehicles were also broken. Matty Lopez/Instagram
Law enforcement officials also told the Chronicle they believe the low arrest rate is contributing to the influx of car break-ins, as Police Chief Bill Scott focuses the force’s efforts on more violent crimes.
He announced on August 24 that the police department would increase visible patrol staff and place decoy cars around break-in hotspots to deter car break-ins.
But Steve Tull, a former Oakland police captain who later became chief investigator for the District Attorney, told the Chronicle: “As soon as we take one group out, another group comes.”
He suggested the best way to combat vehicle break-ins is to have law enforcement agencies organize regional task forces.
City officials and rental car companies can also convince residents and tourists to stop leaving items in their cars, as they did in 2017 and 2018.
Law enforcement officials blame the lack of arrests for this increase in car break-ins.David G. McIntyre
In 2017, San Francisco launched its Park Smart campaign, in which city workers post theft awareness signs and distribute flyers in break-in hotspots.
The following year, car break-ins fell by nearly 20%, the outlet reported.
By 2018, the San Francisco Police Department also partnered with the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency to reduce car thefts at the Sutter-Stockton Garage.
It installed fences, lights and surveillance cameras while putting up signs warning people of theft. As a result, break-ins dropped by 38% in just a few months, according to the Chronicle.
But in a July 2023 press release, Supervisor Dean Preston said the program’s status was “unclear.”
And when asked about the campaign by a Chronicle reporter on Aug. 24, Police Chief Scott admitted the city should be “more aggressive” in raising awareness about car break-ins like it does under the Park Smart campaign.
“We need to rise again,” he told reporters.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
