CRIME: THE CAPTAIN'S VIEW
The Captain’s View: Investigating local crime
Hello, fellow crime fighters of the Marina District! This month’s column addresses what’s going on within the SFPD specifically relating to investigations.
There is a lot more to crime fighting than just arresting the bad guys. Before Chief Gascon came to the SFPD, investigations were centralized and physically located in that big, ugly grey building down at 850 Bryant Street. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, patrol officers are arresting bad buys for various crimes. The old way, Monday through Friday (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), investigators in that building would prepare that arrest for court. Then there wasn’t much communication or enough cooperation between patrol and investigation teams. Today, thanks to Chief Gascon’s decentralization of most investigative bureaus, there is a much more harmonious and cooperative relationship. Investigators are available 24/7 to the patrol officer. Here at Northern Station, we have a great partnership between the two. Routinely, investigators will acquire some sort of photo/video evidence with an unidentified suspect and show it to one of the patrol officers – and an immediate identification is made. Or they identify a suspect via other means, and patrol will respond and pick up the person. The relationship is so great that we have an 80-plus percent rebooking rate on those arrested, far higher than the citywide average. Now patrol officers are cross training in evidence collection, are gathering fingerprint evidence, performing presumptive testing on drugs, canvassing areas on all crimes (not just the most serious crimes), and more. Through crime analysis, we are policing more cooperatively and intelligently.
One byproduct of this efficiency is a citywide, year-to-date reduction in all Part 1 crimes. Part 1 crimes are the national measure of crime statistics: homicide, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, auto theft, theft from vehicle, arson, and other thefts. Through July 10, Part 1 crimes are down 11 percent citywide. Within the Northern District (which includes the Marina) we are down 26 percent (YTD). We are up in the area of auto thefts, and our auto theft arrests are higher too. Criminals that steal cars tend to favor Japanese model cars, and during this period, Honda was the preferred model (old and new ones). Specifically in the Marina area during the period of June 13 to July 10, three cars were stolen: two Acuras (2004 and 2005) and one Honda (1996) model. There are many ways to prevent auto theft, including parking in a garage, alarms, placing a “club” on the steering wheel, or using an anti-theft device on the brake. S.F. SAFE has many crime prevention tips and I have found them and their website (www.sfsafe.org) to be very helpful. Nothing is absolute, but if you make your valuables (including your car) less attractive (or easy to steal), the opportunist criminal will move on to the easier target.
These statistics – and drops in crime rates – would not happen without your partnership and the hard work and dedication of the members of the San Francisco Police Department.
There is a lot more to crime fighting than just arresting the bad guys. Before Chief Gascon came to the SFPD, investigations were centralized and physically located in that big, ugly grey building down at 850 Bryant Street. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, patrol officers are arresting bad buys for various crimes. The old way, Monday through Friday (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), investigators in that building would prepare that arrest for court. Then there wasn’t much communication or enough cooperation between patrol and investigation teams. Today, thanks to Chief Gascon’s decentralization of most investigative bureaus, there is a much more harmonious and cooperative relationship. Investigators are available 24/7 to the patrol officer. Here at Northern Station, we have a great partnership between the two. Routinely, investigators will acquire some sort of photo/video evidence with an unidentified suspect and show it to one of the patrol officers – and an immediate identification is made. Or they identify a suspect via other means, and patrol will respond and pick up the person. The relationship is so great that we have an 80-plus percent rebooking rate on those arrested, far higher than the citywide average. Now patrol officers are cross training in evidence collection, are gathering fingerprint evidence, performing presumptive testing on drugs, canvassing areas on all crimes (not just the most serious crimes), and more. Through crime analysis, we are policing more cooperatively and intelligently.
One byproduct of this efficiency is a citywide, year-to-date reduction in all Part 1 crimes. Part 1 crimes are the national measure of crime statistics: homicide, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, auto theft, theft from vehicle, arson, and other thefts. Through July 10, Part 1 crimes are down 11 percent citywide. Within the Northern District (which includes the Marina) we are down 26 percent (YTD). We are up in the area of auto thefts, and our auto theft arrests are higher too. Criminals that steal cars tend to favor Japanese model cars, and during this period, Honda was the preferred model (old and new ones). Specifically in the Marina area during the period of June 13 to July 10, three cars were stolen: two Acuras (2004 and 2005) and one Honda (1996) model. There are many ways to prevent auto theft, including parking in a garage, alarms, placing a “club” on the steering wheel, or using an anti-theft device on the brake. S.F. SAFE has many crime prevention tips and I have found them and their website (www.sfsafe.org) to be very helpful. Nothing is absolute, but if you make your valuables (including your car) less attractive (or easy to steal), the opportunist criminal will move on to the easier target.
These statistics – and drops in crime rates – would not happen without your partnership and the hard work and dedication of the members of the San Francisco Police Department.
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