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By Administrator, March 4, 2010 12:15 am

City struck by auto burglaries

March 04, 2010, 02:56 AM

Daily Journal staff report

At least 10 cars had smashed windows and items taken during a crime spree in San Carlos Tuesday night between 6:17 p.m. and 11:32 p.m., according to police.

Police believe one person or party is responsible for all the break-ins.

One woman’s purse was stolen with $700 inside. GPS devices and other electronics devices were also taken, said San Carlos police Cmdr. Jon Read.

The spree was primarily contained to the western edge of the city in the hills, Read said.

A vehicle on the 2800 block of Brittan Avenue was the first to be burglarized just after 6 p.m. Tuesday. Police responded to another call at 7:34 p.m. in which personal items from the passenger-side floorboards were taken from a vehicle. Police responded to several more calls that night including one on the 900 block of Crestview Drive at 7:47 p.m. in which a backpack and sunglasses were stolen.

The burglar or burglars struck again on the 200 block of Crestview Drive when police responded to a call at 7:57 p.m.

Police responded to another call just two minutes later on the first block of Maple Way where a car’s window was smashed and an iPod stolen, according to San Carlos’ police media bulletin.

Police responded to a call on the 500 block of Emerald Avenue at 8:07 p.m. and then were called back to the scene of another auto burglary at 8:10 p.m. on the 100 block of Crestview Drive.

The last call police responded to that night related to the crime spree was at 11:32 p.m. on the 3300 block of Brittan Avenue. A makeup bag was removed from the vehicle, searched and discarded nearby.

San Carlos police are working with neighboring law enforcement agencies to see if any other cities have seen an uptick in these types of crimes and whether a suspect has been identified. Read reminds residents to not keep valuables locked inside their cars.

Editorial Comment

It’s getting painful to continue to hear the City’s constant retort of “we have no money.” Well, homeowners don’t either. We pay embarrassing amounts in property taxes and yet live in a city constantly crying for more money and considering turning off half of its street lights while these crimes continue unabated.

And when we are victims of crime, we are resigned to there never being any resolution, because of course there is no money. (Yes, we’ve heard.) So we’ve lost our property and a little faith, and we’re left with a city that wants more money while homeowners see more crime.

Seriously… what the hell?

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By Administrator, March 1, 2010 7:24 am

By Shaun Bishop
Daily News
Posted: 02/24/2010 09:27:58 PM PST
Updated: 02/25/2010 12:45:28 PM PST

Three people have been arrested in connection with two of the 19 residential burglaries reported in San Carlos over the past four months, police said.

Jessica Lawler, 18, was arrested Feb. 16 and charged with committing two burglaries that occurred in January, including one in which three handguns were stolen, said police Cmdr. Jon Read.

San Mateo County prosecutors charged Lawler, of Sunnyvale, with two counts of residential burglary, three counts of grand theft and two counts of attempted residential burglary, all felonies, said assistant district attorney Karen Guidotti.

Lawler pleaded not guilty last week and is in custody on $100,000 bail. She faces about nine years in prison if convicted on the seven charges, Guidotti said.

Read said the two burglaries occurred in January, about a week apart, at homes in the southwest area of San Carlos near Eaton Avenue. He declined to name the exact locations, citing the “complexity of the case.”

Two men were arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property from the burglaries. Damien Vaka, a 31-year-old Belmont man, was arrested Feb. 9 when a probation search turned up one of the stolen handguns, Read said.

A third suspect, an East Palo Alto resident, was arrested about a week ago on suspicion of possessing stolen property from one of the burglaries. Read said he did not immediately know the man’s name because he was arrested by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office street crimes unit. The sheriff’s office could not be reached for comment.

Detectives are analyzing evidence to determine whether the three suspects in custody have ties to 17 other burglaries that have occurred throughout the city since November. It is possible police could turn up additional suspects, Read said.

“Whether or not (Lawler) committed all 17, we don’t know, but we’re obviously going to be looking into this to see if she did anything else,” Read said.

Vaka pleaded not guilty Feb. 11 to three felony charges — possession of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of concentrated cannabis — and possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.

He remains in custody on $125,000 bail and faces about five years in prison if convicted, Guidotti said.

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By Administrator, February 27, 2010 10:43 am

The San Carlos Police Department

Welcomes You To The

2nd Annual Town Hall Meeting

• Find out about the latest crime trends
• Stay connected with your Police Department through the use of Crime Reports.com and Twitter
• Tips on crime prevention
• Hear about the forming of Community Partnerships like Neighborhood Watch

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By Administrator, February 23, 2010 5:50 pm

February 22, 2010, 01:35 AM By Ken Castle

I keep seeing letters and press comments from San Carlos residents who feel that years of budget cutbacks have not compromised our police and fire departments, and that these agencies may have been “overstaffed.”

To anyone who believes that, here are the facts:

• The San Carlos Police Department is so thinly staffed that it must frequently call for outside assistance from neighboring police agencies. This happens regularly when we have weekend bar brawls as well as shootings and armed robberies. Serious crimes in this city, by the way, increased 25 percent in 2009, according to a recent report to the City Council from Police Chief Greg Rothaus.

• Successive cutbacks in the number of sworn officers, combined with unfilled vacancies, illnesses and court appearances, mean that 12-hour shifts and compulsory overtime are frequently the norm. Tired officers are too often faced with stopping suspicious vehicles late at night without the availability of a second officer as backup, and when is that going to lead to disaster?

• If you compare San Carlos Police Department with its counterparts in four other comparably-sized cities — Burlingame, Belmont, Foster City and Los Gatos — San Carlos has the lowest number of officers per capita: 1.1 per thousand residents. In Burlingame and Foster City, it’s 1.4 officers per thousand.

• In the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department, the combined staffing of the city’s only two fire stations is six for each shift. There can be situations, as in a recent fatal residential fire, when this is not enough, especially if people need to be rescued. Thus, precious minutes are wasted waiting for reinforcements to come from Belmont or Redwood City.

• Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department Chief Doug Fry confirms that Station No. 13 on Laurel Street downtown has no firefighting capability this year, and thus there is no first-response protection to the entire north and central part of the city from this station — a truly worrisome state of affairs. That’s because the station has only one large ladder truck that carries no water, no hose and no pumps. Although it was never designed to be a first-response vehicle — but to work in tandem with a pump engine — in fact the ladder truck is all that’s available for this section of town. The truck is rotated each year between Belmont and San Carlos, and this year it’s San Carlos’ turn to man the vehicle.

• Our present reduced staffing of three firefighters per vehicle is not enough for any first-response team to enter a burning building, even if the structure could be saved in the initial minutes of the blaze. That’s because state safety regulations require the presence of four firefighters — two to go in and two to remain outside as backup. So the first company to arrive has to wait for a second company and, in that time, even if it’s just 30 seconds or a minute, it may be too late to save a building.

Make no mistake about it, we are playing a dangerous game of Russian Roulette with our public safety agencies by thinking that we can continue to chop with impunity.

Ken Castle is the organizer of White Oaks Neighborhood Watch in San Carlos.

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By Administrator, February 17, 2010 9:27 am

KGO-TV (Channel 7) covered a meeting of the the San Carlos Transportation and Circulation Commission last night when the commission discussed the Public Works department’s proposal of turning off half of San Carlos’s street lights to save money.

Residents featured in the video segment are against the proposal, as is the White Oaks Neighborhood Organization. Councilman Matt Grocott also expressed that he does not approve of the proposal, and he suggested seeking other areas to cut, such as City employees’ salaries. Thank you, Matt.

Sources at the meeting tell us that the commissioners blamed the residents of San Carlos for not passing Measure U (as if newcomers aren’t already paying very high property taxes to begin with), and that they took issue with our blog “disparaging” them.  (Note to commissioner:  On Google, search for “US Constitution, First Amendment.” And we don’t disparage anyway.)

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By Administrator, February 15, 2010 8:14 pm

Budget cuts could darken city’s streetlights

February 15, 2010, 03:30 AM By Michelle Durand

Nearly half the streetlights in San Carlos could darken and traffic safety requests deferred indefinitely under a list of proposed cuts by the Public Works Department meant to meet its share of a $3.5 million shortfall.

“It’s going to be a very different form of city government if these cuts go through. It will be a real radical change,” said Public Works Director Robert Weil.

Weil needs to cut $125,000 from his budget to meet the target set by City Manager Mark Weiss of all city departments. While the chop is far from the hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially coming from other areas, such as parks and public safety, public works is challenged by not having as many places to cut, Weil said.

But like its departmental counterparts, public works also contributes to the quality of life by keeping streets lit, sewers flowing and both pedestrians and motorists safe.

The biggest proposed cut is turning off 45 percent of the city’s street lights for a cost savings of $75,000 annually. Ironically, flipping the power will first cost the city $60,000 but the savings will begin the second year.

No specific locations are suggested; the proposal is just a figure used to reach the required number, Weil said.

Continue reading 'Will San Carlos Turn Off Streetlights?'»

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By Ken, February 13, 2010 8:52 am

“Why can’t city government operate like a business?”

This is a question we’ve heard a lot lately, especially with cities struggling to make ends meet. In San Carlos, the severity of a projected $3.5 million budget shortfall is prompting the city council to look at fundamental changes. Proposals include shutting down one of two fire stations and replacing the San Carlos police force with hired guns from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department.

Maybe there’s another way. Maybe the council might consider the reverse option: Keeping the fire and police departments intact — and outsourcing city hall.

That’s already being done in Georgia, where several cities have hired a for-profit private company to run everything – and I mean everything – except public safety departments. One city, Sandy Springs, population 85,000, has operated in this fashion since 2005. According to the city’s website, “the result of this unique partnership has been a significantly higher level of customer service along with a focus on quality, increased responsiveness to individual needs, and dramatically lower operating costs with a total savings of approximately $20 million per year.”

Sandy Springs has an annual budget of $98.8 million and 380 employees. Even though San Carlos is just under one-third that size, with a $28.4 million budget and 110 staff, the prospect of saving millions might well provide an ongoing solution to the chronic financial problems that have plagued San Carlos for a decade.

The contractor for these services is an Englewood, Colorado-based company with a name that sounds like a Secret Service code: CH2M Hill. This firm operates everything from city wastewater treatment plants to public works departments. But, recently it began managing entire cities, mostly smaller municipalities with a population of 100,000 or less. Apart from Sandy Springs, it also runs Milton and Johns Creek which, like Sandy Springs, are suburbs of Atlanta. In Colorado, two places with private management are Centennial (population: 103,000) and Castle Pines North, a new residential community.

Continue reading 'Keep Police and Fire, Outsource City Hall'»

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By Ken, February 8, 2010 1:55 pm

A White Oaks block captain passed this article to us, and it’s worth reading if you carry a cell phone or use a GPS navigation device in your vehicle.

GPS: IS IT A ROADMAP TO YOUR HOUSE?

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS — don’t put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station or police department) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES — A GOLD MINE OF INFORMATION FOR CROOKS

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet… etc…was stolen.

Twenty minutes later when she called her hubby from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says “I received your text asking about our PIN number and I’ve replied a little while ago.”

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text “hubby” in the contact list and got ahold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:

– Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.

– Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….

– Very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when your friends or family members are texting you to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don’t reach them, be very careful about going places to meet “family and friends” who text you.

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By Administrator, February 7, 2010 1:27 pm

The San Carlos Police Department has released its 2009 Dashboard, a report that benchmarks types of crimes, such as violent crimes, property crimes, and burglary crimes, against other local cities’ results for the same time period.

For 2009, violent crimes had a much higher likelihood of being solved than did burglary or property crimes.

See the full report here.

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By Administrator, January 30, 2010 11:41 am

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.

2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.

3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste … and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.

4. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.

5. If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.

6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.

7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.

8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door-understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.

9. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don’t take me up on it.)

10. Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.

Continue reading '21 Things Your Burglar Won’t Tell You'»