Aragon students fall victim to rise in local vehicle crimes

“Where is my car?” thought senior Victoria Sun. Sun had parked her 1999 Honda CRV on Alameda de las Pulgas the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 28. When she returned to the parking spot that afternoon, her vehicle was nowhere to be found.

Sun soon realized that her car had been stolen. In August, vehicular theft occurred 18 times in the city of San Mateo—on average, more than once every two days. In July, that number was 30.

Over the past six months from May to October, 99 vehicles were stolen in San Mateo. The total for 2011 was 138, according to FBI crime statistics, making Sun only one of an increasing number of victims of this type of crime.

Sun recalls her initial reaction when she returned to her parking spot. She says, “I saw some cars driving near my spot, so I was thinking to myself, ‘My car better be there,’ and then it’s not there. I freaked out, like ‘this can’t be happening.’”

According to Sun, when San Mateo police arrived, an officer took a report and said she would receive a call if and when the vehicle is found. Although Sun recognizes that vehicle theft is not the most significant of crimes, she believes police should do more.

“I feel like they did their job,” says Sun, “But they [police] should take this more seriously because to them this is a property crime, not a life-threatening crime, so they didn’t take this as a priority, but this could lead to something very dangerous.”

However, Norris says vehicle theft is taken seriously by police. He says, “Every crime that occurs in San Mateo we take seriously and individually as crime … but depending on how much info is available with each individual crime, we can only follow that investigation for so long without trying to put it together with others and identify trends.”

As to the prevalence of this crime, Sun and Norris both agree that this is largely a crime of opportunity.

Sun says, “It’s also our own responsibility to protect our vehicles. I guess the reason why my vehicle was attract[ive] to the thief was probably because I had my tennis racket and a textbook in there.”

Norris says that the overwhelming majority of vehicle thefts and thefts from within vehicles occur with cars either unlocked or with items in plain sight.

The latter is exactly what happened on a Sunday in October to senior and Outlook Photography Editor Alex Furuya.

Furuya describes, “My mom’s car [was] broken into. There was glass shattered at the tires, the passenger window was broken, and my backpack was gone.”

In Furuya’s case, the vehicle was parked in a downtown San Mateo parking lot with his backpack clearly visible.

Theft from vehicle is another crime that has spiked over the past year, according to San Mateo police. In October alone, this crime occurred 54 times, the most in one month thus far for 2013.

This crime and the theft of Sun’s car both occurred in broad daylight. No one is immune, including San Francisco police chief Greg Suhr, who had his personal vehicle broken into in late October. The brazen nature of these incidents has prompted Furuya to search for solutions.

One solution Furuya proposes is the addition of security cameras. He says, “They [police] said there’s been more cases of people breaking into cars in the parking garages, but they don’t have cameras. If it’s happening more often, they should do something about that.”

San Mateo police say they currently utilize a variety of tactics to combat these and other crimes. A crime analyst is tasked with identifying trends and reporting them to command staff. In addition, multiple divisions within the department, including patrol, investigations, and the crime reduction unit, collaborate to address crime hot spots.

Furthermore, information is sent to the community through social media and presented by designated-area-lieutenants in community meetings.

However, Furuya admits that people also need to do their part.

“In [my] case, prevention is definitely key, like if I had left my backpack in the trunk, this definitely would not have happened,” says Furuya.

As to why thieves are committing these crimes to such a degree, Norris points to a number of reasons, speculating that lack of prosecution ability due to high case volume, overcrowding in jails, and the release of prisoners are all factors.

Norris adds, “We are also hearing anecdotally from criminals that we arrest that they are aware that the sentences are light for this type of crime, and that’s why they do it.”

In early October, Sun received a call from San Francisco police notifying her that the Honda CRV had been found. Her case remains under investigation. Since then, Sun has installed a steering wheel lock to prevent her car from being stolen again.

While Furuya has little hope of recovering his backpack, he says he’s moved on.

As for what citizens can do, police encourage victims to report the crime—whether online or with an officer—so that police can compile the data to identify trends, link crimes, and solve crimes.

Norris also offers tips for prevention, saying, “Always lock your car when you’re leaving, and when you lock up and secure your car, make sure there aren’t valuables that can be seen from the outside of the car.”

Ultimately, it is a combination of preventative measures and a robust police response that will be necessary to effectively prevent future ordeals like those of Sun and Furuya.