One week after the San Francisco Police Department released its 2014 year-end crime statistics for the city, we're here to check in on crime in the Upper Haight.
The 2014 statistics indicate a citywide drop of about 5 percent in all types of crime across the city, including violent crime and property crime. The statistics aren't broken down by neighborhood, but a look at the Park Station's activity since New Year's offers some insight into local trends in crime.
Last year saw a substantial number of burglaries and robberies of the home-entry-and-car-theft varieties, beginning with a rash of brazen robberies last February characterized by people who would bluff their way into shared buildings and make their way into apartments. While the Haight isn't seeing quite that kind of activity yet this year, we do seem to be off to a warm start.
There was a prominent snatch-and-grab last April, noticed largely because of the photographer who managed to capture it on film.
Similarly, last Saturday Hoodline witnessed a snatch-and-grab at the corner of Haight and Belvedere, in which a man stole a pedestrian's bag out of her hand and ran with it up Belvedere towards Waller. The suspect was chased up the block until he was forced to drop the bag, but one of the pursuers followed him around the corner and kept the police dispatcher on the phone until cops in a cruiser and on bicycle were able to apprehend the suspect.
According to the Park Station's biweekly newsletter of late February, arrests and incidents in the Haight during the past month saw the standard mélange of narcotics, graffiti and sit/lie violations, but burglaries and robberies remained prominent in the mix.
Specifically, it seems that the latest trend among burglars in the Upper Haight is the theft of garage door openers, out of either locked or unlocked cars, as a way to break into homes and steal bicycles and electronics.
According to police reports, victims on the 1400 block of Masonic "left their garage door opener inside their unlocked vehicle and later discovered numerous items missing" on Feb. 2nd. On Feb. 9th, on the 200 block of Central, another garage door opener went missing, along with items from a garage. On Masonic and Frederick on Feb. 4th, a garage was burglarized and bikes stolen.
There's also been a substantial number of car break-ins, including one interrupted break-in where the suspect stole the spare change out of the center console before fleeing the scene.
Another trend in home break-ins is the perennially popular yard-hop, which one reader reported occurring adjacent to Haight Street, in which thieves gain access to a back yard and jump fences from property to property until they can gain entry to a garage or building and walk out with stolen goods.
There have also been reported burglaries of the more direct variety, including an incident reported this month in which someone asking to "test ride" a $3,500 bicycle on Stanyan offered an empty wallet as collateral and rode off with the bike.
The only armed robberies reported this month in the Park Station's district occurred closer to the Divisadero corridor. However, on February 22nd an incident occurred within Golden Gate Park (mysteriously reported at Haight and Fell, which don't intersect). The male victim was accosted by a group of six suspects after being hit in the head with an unknown object. The victim fell and was kicked numerous times, with the suspects absconding with his clothes, phone and money.
On Feb. 10th, a jogger was "intentionally tripped by an unknown individual" at Haight and Ashbury, according to police reports. The victim sustained a fracture during his fall.
That's a brief snapshot of the neighborhood in crime and mayhem over the past month. If you'd like to speak to Park Station about crime in the area, Park Station community meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month (here's what happened at the last one), so your next opportunity will be March 10th.
Safe-house tips from the Park Station and the SFPD include the recommendation to avoid keeping valuables in your car, and probably don't keep your garage door opener there, either, at least not in a visible spot. Keep windows and doors locked, and lock up your bike, even if it's in the garage.
