Daly City has been hit with a crime wave, according to a Daly City Police Department bulletin, which reported a spate of robberies, burglaries, vehicle thefts, and vandalism spanning the first three weeks of January. The city, which usually boasts a low crime rate, has faced multiple incidents of armed robbery, including a heist at a 7-Eleven where suspects, described as a black male and female, took cash and cigarettes totaling over $1,000 in value.
In one of the more alarming incidents, a lone individual was assaulted at gunpoint and knife-point by two suspects who made away with goods, including a pricey iPhone and cash, on the 100 block of First Avenue. The culprits, described as slender Hispanic males, managed to evade capture. Another case saw four individuals raid a Nordstrom Rack, injuring a store greeter in their haste to escape with stolen merchandise. Meanwhile, Daly City's residents faced violations of their personal space with residential break-ins, such as one on Poncetta Drive where an intruder invaded a home through an open window and stole valuable possessions, including a laptop and $700 in cash while the homeowners were asleep.
Vehicular crime was also rampant, with eighteen stolen vehicles reported; eleven of these have since been recovered by police. In a particularly bold string of crimes, the PG&E lot on Eastmoor Avenue was targeted for theft multiple times, with several trucks being broken into and plundered for tools and equipment. The burglary at Planet Fitness saw a locker raided and belongings, including keys and credit cards, snatched up by yet-unidentified thieves.
In an attempt to make sense of the chaos, the Daly City Police have their hands full, piecing together clues from the series of vehicle break-ins that saw various personal items, from dog treats to sensitive documents, stolen from the denizens of Daly City. The blotter also noted miscellaneous crimes totaling 269 cases, encompassing domestic disputes to narcotics-related offenses. The surge in crime signals a stressful start to the year for both the police force and the residents of Daly City alike.
