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Crime & Safety

Foster City Jewelry Heists Follow Trend

A $100,000 Marina Point jewelry heist was among four daytime residential burglaries on March 9. Four separate incidents since late December have involved pricey jewelry.

During a in Foster City last week, valuable jewelry was reported stolen from two homes, with the thieves’ take in one of the four incidents estimated at $100,000.

In a separate incident the previous week, burglars smashed through the windows of a parked near Foster City Athletic Club in a . In a residential burglary last year, jewelry valued at $100,000 was stolen from a woman’s ransacked home, the Lagonian reported.

The incidents follow a trend that police say have drawn them into a business that Tom Shane once cornered.   

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“We’re getting a more jewelry thefts than we have in the past,” Foster City Police Capt. Jon Froomin told Patch.

“It’s hard to tell why; is it the bad economy? Is it better crime prevention that’s needed? Could it be insurance?

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“We just don’t know.”

Police the recent incidents are related.

Three of the burglaries – all four were reported on March 9 – occurred at the Marina Point complex at the intersection of Foster City and Beach Park Boulevards.  

The $100,000 heist occurred on Lurline Drive.

All four incidents involved door-pries.

“It’s safe to say the three at Marina Point are probably connected,” Froomin said

Police aren’t ruling out a connection with the Lurline incident too, but Froomin noted that that case involved a single-family home. The Marina Point burglaries all involved condos.

“When someone’s taken in for one of those crimes we’ll look at the ones that occurred around the same time frame,” Froomin said.  

Froomin said there’s no evidence that inside information figured in any of the burglaries.

“Almost every home has a television and almost every home has a computer,” Froomin said. “The extent of the value of jewelry is going to vary from house to house, and sometimes that might be intelligence-generated, but not necessarily.

“You don’t need a whole lot of intelligence.”

Police earlier this week issued an advisory urging the public to be proactive in protecting their property.

The advisory includes a recommendation that residents install deadbolts on all exterior doors , a precaution that would have stopped the burglars in the March 9 incidents in their tracks.

Residents are also encouraged to lock their windows when they’re not home, and  condo residents are advised not to let others follow them into secure areas.

Foster City residents are also encouraged to take advantage of the FCPD’s home security survey, a no-cost program in which law enforcement officials act as consultants, visiting homes and making recommendations.

Froomin said police will not solicit on behalf of any private security companies, but will describe the types of service that may enhance home security.

“We have things that we look for in the home and around the home that may be deficient or could use improvement in the way of home security,” Froomin said. “We sit down and tell them what we see and also give them some tips on how they can fix those things.”

Foster City residents can request a home security survey by calling the FCPD (650) 286-3300.

Anyone with information on the burglaries or any other crimes is asked to call the FCPD’s tip line (650) 286-3323.

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