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By Ken, March 30, 2010 9:33 pm

San Carlos Police are on the lookout for a gang of robbers who entered an open door of a home on the 1300 block of Hull Drive – in the north part of town just off El Camino Real – tied up the resident and made off with money and jewelry.

Police said the daylight robbery, at 11:15 a.m. on Monday, involved several suspects, described as Hispanic and between the ages of 20 and 30. After tying up the occupant, the suspects ransacked the entire house before fleeing, they said. The victim received minor injuries but required no medical treatment.

Police are investigating.

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By Ken,

Once again, surveillance video has proven to be critical in a San Carlos police investigation – this time resulting in the arrest of a suspect in the December armed robbery of our Best Buy store.

According to detective Sgt. Marti Overton, San Carlos investigators distributed still photos of the gunman to Bay Area law enforcement agencies. One detective noticed that the suspect resembled a man in a wanted photo from another jurisdiction, for a different crime.

San Carlos officers then obtained a $1 million arrest warrant and the suspect, Anthony Byrd, 24, was arrested at his East Bay home on Sunday by Hayward Police. San Carlos detectives searched the residence and found numerous pieces of suspected stolen electronic items, including flat screen TVs, computers and gaming consoles, said Overton.

On the evening of Dec. 29, the robber entered the Best Buy store at San Carlos Marketplace on Industrial Road, loaded a cart with selected items from the shelves and headed for the rear exit. When he was confronted by a store employee, the man brandished a handgun and made his escape.

Faced with a 25 percent rise in major crimes in the city during 2009, San Carlos Police have chalked up a series of key arrests lately. The department has a clearance rate of 75 percent for violent crimes – nearly twice the California average. And just a few weeks ago, police cracked what they believe was a highly organized burglary ring after a house in the Oak Creek area (upper Eaton) was entered and $30,000 worth of goods was stolen.

These successes come as the city council is considering a city staff recommendation to dissolve the police department and outsource all law enforcement functions to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department.

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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 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'»

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By Ken, January 28, 2010 11:36 am

Teen salespeople linked to crimes; employers elude law with shady tactics

San Mateo Daily News
January 28, 2010

BY WILL OREMUS
Daily News Staff Writer

At 5:39 p.m. on Jan. 6, on the 300 block of Louis Road, Palo Alto police arrested a 19-year-old woman from St. Clair Shores, Mich., who was selling magazines door-to-door. She had already been warned and cited for soliciting without a permit, a violation of Palo Alto’s municipal code.

So this time, the officers took her into custody and booked her into Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose.

It might sound like a harsh penalty just for selling magazines, but police Sgt. Wayne Benitez said the department is trying to send a message to the young woman’s employer.

Magazine solicitation, Benitez explained, isn’t always as benign as it sounds. In many cases the salespeople have been linked to other, more serious crimes. And often they’re victims of exploitation themselves, lured from troubled homes with promises of easy money by fly-bynight companies that treat them poorly and cut them loose if they don’t perform.

The problem isn’t new, but authorities in at least two Peninsula cities said it seems to be on the rise. As in Palo Alto, police in San Carlos said they’re starting to get tougher on offenders in hopes of stemming the practice.

Continue reading 'Palo Alto Going After “Magazine” Solicitors'»

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By Administrator, December 31, 2009 2:28 pm

The San Carlos Police Department has posted news of two armed robberies within the last two days.

1. On December 29, 2009 at approximately 7:45pm, an armed robbery occurred at the Best Buy store located at 1127 Industrial Road in San Carlos. See photo below.
2. On December 29, 2009 at approximately 9:45pm, an attempted armed robbery occurred at the Taqueria Mi Ranchito Mexican restaurant located at 660 Laurel Street in downtown San Carlos.

Surveillance cameras at Best Buy captured these images

The news releases describe two different male suspects in each incident.   Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the San Carlos Police Department at (650) 802-4277.

One wonders if on the heels of the of the KTVU story that two armed robberies occur a week later, and on the same day.

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By Administrator, December 23, 2009 8:58 am

KTVU’s December 16 newscast featured a spot on the budget cuts facing San Carlos. A little disconcerting is the police saying that San Carlos is going to become a police-free zone.

Audio and video are out of sync in this clip.