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Business & Tech

Foster City's Sense of Community Keeps it Safe

Action by residents and police after recent burglaries show town spirit.

A recent article in Foster City Patch outlined an increase in local residential burglaries since Jan. 1.  As of April 12, the city had recorded 19 burglaries for the year, sending mild shockwaves through the community. The perception of Foster City has always been that it’s a relatively crime-free place. Criminals—like evil spirits, they figure—cannot cross water, so they stay in San Mateo.

Local law enforcement responded by advising locals to ramp up awareness and to advise the authorities of any suspicious activity they might see. “To be most effective, crime prevention needs to be a citywide effort,” said a press release issued by the local PD. “Residents should be monitoring activities in the community.”

Judging from the comments left following the Patch story, they already are. Residents expressed concern over what they’re seeing as an increase in crime perpetrated by out-of-town criminals, pointed out an increase in “door-to-door” solicitors and unfamiliar faces walking Foster City streets. The urged each other to invest in home alarm systems.

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According to City-Data.com, a website that keeps comprehensive statistics on U.S. communities, Foster City is traditionally one of the safest cities in the Bay Area. In 2010 it had less than half the total crime of its next-door-neighbor, San Mateo, and 15% less than Belmont, a mostly residential town also known for its public safety.

Burglary and theft make up the great majority of Foster City crime. From 2000 to 2009, the city recorded 28 rapes and one murder. Assaults, which peaked at 37 in 2003, gradually declined until 2009, when only five were reported.During that same period San Mateo averaged 21 rapes and 1.5 murders per year.

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Foster City’s reputation as a crime-free city is built on its lack of violent crime. So far nothing has happened in 2011 to change this. And actually, this year’s rate of 6.33 burglaries per month is about half of what it was in 2009 (10.7 per month) and below what it was in 2010 (99 total burglaries; 8.3 per month). So while this year’s 19 burglaries – statistically – don’t represent a departure from the city’s crime patterns, they are important for something else: the response of law enforcement and local residents.

It’s OK if the police and the residents are being overly vigilant. That’s what made Foster City relatively crime-free in the first place. The fact that they’re operating at code red right now is a good thing. Sensing an increase in crime and a threat to an important part of the Foster City paradigm (and property values), they’re taking pre-emptive action. 

I’m sure Foster City locals don’t believe that water actually prevents evil, home-thieving criminals from crossing into their town. Actually, they may wonder why the majority of this year’s residential burglaries have occurred in the southern part of the town, given that Highway 92 and Hillsdale Boulevard, the two major routes in and out of Foster City, are located to the north.

What’s telling about this scenario is that the suggestions police have been giving citizens are things people in other communities take for granted. They know to lock their doors and to be suspicious of strangers who show up at the front door. It's second nature to city dwellers but perhaps a sad milestone for Foster City.

Being one of the Bay Area’s safest cities is inextricably tied up into the fabric of Foster City. It’s a large factor in the town’s family-friendly appeal and as important a component of property values as location and quality of public schools.

“Your call could solve a crime,” says the Foster City PD. By calling on residents to assist in solving what may or may not be a local crime surge, the police are reinforcing one of the primary building blocks of Foster City living: they’re reminding locals that they are part of a community.

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