Second Degree Burglary, First Degree Chutzpah

Our most recent Citywide Crime Profile showed Auto Boostings down 50% and Motor Vehicle Thefts down 18% (comparing '08 and '09). The below exemplifies the hard work that is driving these reductions.

On a separate note, the brazenness exhibited by some crooks never ceases to amaze me. Here is a man on State parole, with a no-bail warrant out for his arrest, openly engaged in (alleged) auto-burglary and theft – and he has the nerve to ask a passerby to assist him by loaning him jumper cables!

Taraval Station Update - Captain Paul Chignell
02/15/09, 5:28 PM - Sergeant Woo and Officer Goff responded to a report of a man breaking into an automobile at Santiago and Lower Great Highway. When they arrived, they saw a man trying to jumpstart a vehicle using cables requested from a passerby. Though the man stated that the vehicle belonged to his aunt, the officers noticed that he had a bent coat hanger and spark plug chips in his possession. Both of these items are commonly used to enter locked vehicles (through a window, or by breaking a window, respectively). After further investigation, and as they were about to handcuff the man, he fled. He initially headed east on Santiago, before turning down 47th Avenue. While seeking to evade the officers, he discarded his coat and tools. He dodged in and out of parked cars, but was finally captured by Officers Oshita and Shanahan, on the 2400 block of 47th Avenue. The officers continued their investigation, finding that one of the cars had been forcibly entered and that the other was reported stolen. The suspect, a San Francisco resident, has a lengthy criminal record. He was arrested for a no bail parole warrant, burglary, receiving stolen property, auto theft and resisting arrest.

KVR