SF Police Task Force Targeting Car Break-Ins Finds Task Daunting
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- On a recent warm spring night, San Francisco Police Lt. Luke Martin is patrolling the city's bustling Embarcadero Street. As tourists and locals alike dodge cars full of commuters heading home, an unremarkable pair of young men circle around the block, looking into parked cars. Martin's radio crackles with a familiar missive.
"His hand is poking against the glass right now. He's trying to break the window right now."
The voice at the other end of the radio transmission is a fellow undercover SFPD officer, sending a warning about the two men he believes may be attempting to break into a parked car.
He and Martin are part of a newly-formed special task force. Its goal is to reduce the number of car break-ins in San Francisco - and that is no small task.
In 2015, the city had roughly 25,000 reported car break-ins. That's about 70 break-ins a day, or one break in about every 20 minutes.
"We are consistently trying to think of new ways to blend in, to do surveillance, to be undetected by the criminal," said Martin. "Laptops, cell phones, cameras, GPS, any devices like that is what they are looking for."
Task force officers are highly-trained experts in surveillance, looking for potential thieves by car, bike and on foot. The officers often observe and record on video suspects breaking into multiple cars, multiple times - over the course of several days or weeks.
Recorded incidents are then compiled before an arrest is made. Martin says the process is necessary because most thieves who break into cars do not receive jail time. Instead, judges frequently will reduce felony car break-in charges to misdemeanors. So the task force and prosecutors work together to build solid cases.
"They go into the system and come out very quickly," said Martin. " We see them committing the same crime."
The veteran officer admits the process can be frustrating. "For us, it is frustrating. We are, you know, often putting solid cases together fairly quickly," said Martin.
But on this night the men being followed by the task force do not break in to any cars, and after looking into several car windows, they move on down the Embarcadero. Again Martin's radio crackles on.
"They are going the other way, guys ... they are walking southbound now."
So far the task force has made 60 arrests. It it's a small number but Martin says he and his team are committed to reducing the number of car break-ins in the city.
