Car Break-In Spike has Cops Alarmed

Police are asking the public to be extra vigilant in safeguarding their vehicles after a month in which Foster City experienced an alarming spike in car break-ins.

And if watching out for your own stuff isn’t a good enough incentive, then consider your neighbors, say police, who are concerned that a recent rise in auto-related thefts and burglaries could potentially create the type of repeat business Foster City simply doesn’t need.

“If criminals come into Foster City and find that it’s easy pickings, they’ll tell their friends; or they’ll bring bigger crews,” Foster City Police Capt. Jon Froomin told Patch.

Although annual car break-in totals have declined steadily in recent years, Foster City these days has become the land of low-lying fruit to some ne’er-do-wells.

In September, there were a combined 15 reports of car burglary or theft (the legal distinction being that burglary involves physically breaking into a locked car, and theft is defined as the act of entering an unlocked vehicle). That’s a 300 percent increase over the same month last year, when there were five such incidents, and a more than twofold increase over August, in which there were seven.

“What got our attention last month was just the sheer number,” Froomin said. “It was much higher than we usually see.”

The good news from a law enforcement standpoint is that the number of Foster City vehicle break-ins overall is on a downward trajectory. Foster City experienced 137 thefts or burglaries in 2009 and 92 in 2010. So far this year, Foster City has had 65 break-ins this year, which projects to an annual total of 86.

In the aftermath of the September car break-in spike, Police Chief Craig Courtin issued an warning the public of the sharp increase and admonishing the public to take reasonable preventative measures such as keeping doors locked and valuables out of plain site.

“In many cases, thefts from cars are a crime of opportunity,” Courtin said in a prepared statement. “Suspects walk areas with high concentrations of vehicles, first checking for those that are unlocked and then for those with items of value or possible value, that are visible. The most sought after items continue to be purses, laptop computers, GPS devices, and cash. All of these can be easily stored out of sight, or better yet, removed from the vehicle entirely.”

But apparently not enough of Foster City’s citizenry is listening.

In an incident over the weekend, burglars stole gold coins valued at $5,000 and $4,000 in cash from two unlocked cars parked in an unlocked garage on Port Royal Avenue (the crime was reported as a burglary because the act of unlawfully entering private property to steal property is considered burglary).

Froomin acknowledged that he was concerned with a trend among those breaking into cars target single-family houses instead of apartment complexes

Froomin said police are aggressively pursuing car thieves and other criminals with “preventative patrols,” with officers spending a good part of the day driving around town looking for suspicious activity.

“We want criminals to think there are more patrol officers on the street than we actually have,” Froomin said.

 “We believe that makes a difference.”