Property crime — Blog

Victim of property crime

Property crime against cars in San Francisco is well-documented and infamous. It’s almost every week I see someone on twitter commenting how their car got broken into when they made the fateful decision to visit the city. Earlier this year, my friend had her own car’s window smashed while it was parked inside her apartment’s supposedly secured gated lot! Indeed, even patrolled garages aren’t immune from the plague: a few weeks ago I saw a car in our work lot with both front windows broken, which is just insult to injury: a single window wouldn’t have sufficed for the thief to steal whatever they needed to?

This crime phenomenon is precisely why I insure my car with Geico, because the company offers free glass replacement, no matter the comprehensive deductible. Somewhat ironically, in the many years since I’ve started driving, not once have I experienced my cars getting broken into, which by the virtue of writing that out I’ve just jinxed myself tremendously. I ashamed to say the damages done to my cars over the years are all my own, though the Toyota Corolla did get a brick thrown at it by local hoodlums on the second day we brought it home from the dealership, such was the state of the neighborhood back in the mid 2000s.

A few days ago, my father got off work to find someone had drilled a hole in the gas tank of his car, though curiously the big vat of collected petrol was still sitting right underneath. Either the perps were caught by police during the act (not likely in San Francisco), or they found a better offer elsewhere. Nevertheless, dad had to fill the tank with a canister with enough gas to get the Hyundai Tucson to the nearest mechanic. The fix was simple: a self-taping screw into the hole, then a bead of sealer surrounding the head. Due to the presence of gas, metal welding was out the question.

Since the Tucson is a lease, as long as it doesn’t leak, we’re going to leave the visually crude fix as is.

That’s the thing with vehicular property crime that’s so frustrating: you have to take the time to get the damaged remedied. It’s already bad enough that things were stolen out of the car; the additional hassle to make the situation whole again is salt on the wounds. I can see why some people get so fed up that they vow to never return to the city unless they absolutely have to. Whatever excitement San Francisco offers does not outweigh the potential of retuning to a parked car with an unceremonious gift left behind by miscreants.

Sooner or later, the powers at be will need to step up on enforcement, because more and more people are abandoning the city…

A tradition unlike any other

Property crime in San Francisco: a tradition unlike any other.

As I was waiting for my transfer bus last evening, I noticed a dude sort of hiding out in the center median of the avenue, looking back and forth at the bus stops on either side. I half thought nothing of it because honestly it’s not all that weird, and half thought that dude must be looking for an opportunity to rob someone. For much of the time I was waiting for the bus, the guy remained on the median, continuing to look back and forth, scoping out the scene.

I grew up in the ghetto part of town - back when San Francisco had such a thing, so I am well-trained at not making myself an enticing robbery target. I almost never take my phone out; listening to podcasts is all I do during the commute, so the iPhone stays in my pocket the whole time. I even use the cheapest pair of black in-ear earphones I can find on Amazon, so to avoid the extra attention a set of AirPods or Beats headphones would attract. I don’t wear any jewelry, and on particularly hot days where short-sleeve t-shirt is mandatory, I even take off my watch and put it in the backpack.

It’s about making myself as less of a potential target as possible.

Sure enough, the dude in the median was indeed looking for someone to rob. A few minutes before the bus arrived, he and two other guys walked over to our side of the avenue, pass the cluster of us waiting at the station, and proceeded to quickly snatch the phone off the hands of an unsuspecting woman behind us. After that, they swiftly got into a waiting car, and sped off. The victim had no chance.

Even with activation lock technology rendering stolen phone unusable for the next person, I guess there’s still a lucrative parts market. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a coordinated attack by four guys simply to steal one phone. Though now that I think about it, that woman probably wasn’t the only victim that night.

Welcome to the richest city in America!