Brazen bay-area burglars were filmed making a series of smash-and-grabs from a line of parked cars in broad daylight — with no sign of any police response.
Completely unbothered by bystanders, the Lexus-driving criminals went along the line of cars near San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Warf smashing windows and pillaging the contents before moving onto the next, as captured on video by a reporter from local TV station KTVU.
One of the vehicles targeted by the burglars even had a person sitting in the back, but he still snatched the victim’s bag before taking off.
“It’s called ‘bipping and boosting,’” San Francisco Police Lt.Tracy McCray told The Post, referring to the slang term for the smash and grab incidents which are plaguing the Bay Area.
“It really exploded during the pandemic so much so that someone told me that the sidewalks are glistening and sparkling [with glass from windows] where cars are broken into left and right.
“The infuriating part is the brazenness of it has gotten off the chain. They don’t even try to hide what they are doing anymore.”
Day-time vehicle break-ins have become so common in San Francisco neighborhoods such as the Alamo Square and Japantown that Supervisor Dean Preston called for a hearing to address the city’s bipping epidemic, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Preston, who has voted in the past against law enforcement-based policies, said San Francisco city officials have made “no progress” on the persistent break-ins.
“Residents continue to deal with broken car windows, stolen possessions, and shattered glass on the streets and sidewalks, while visitors are left with trauma, financial loss, and less-than-ideal memories of their visits,” Preston said in a statement.
San Francisco had nearly 1,670 car break-ins in the past 30 days, according to the latest data tracked by the San Francisco Police Department. There has been nearly 10,000 thefts from vehicles in the city so far this year.
Tourist areas such as the North Beach Neighborhood, Japantown and Presidio are the San Francisco neighborhoods with the highest break-ins per 10,000 residents.
Signs can be seen throughout the city warning residents and tourists alike not to leave anything inside their cars, but that has not deterred criminals.
McCray, who is the vice president of the SFPD union, said the break-ins have added to the crippling effect of the doom loop has had on the entire city, which has seen dozens of businesses shutter since 2021.
McCray said while there are undercover police who track the break-ins, there are still not enough resources because the department is also struggling to keep up with regular calls for service and incidents involving fentanyl and other drug overdoses.
There is also the risk of putting the public in danger should the brazen burglars speed through residential and tourist areas, she said.
McCray added, “When we do make an arrest for a break-in, the problem is, they are released almost immediately on their own recognizance and they go right back out there and do it again. A lot of them even have ankle monitoring bracelets and they still don’t care. There’s that complete disregard because they know they will just get away with it.”
Ty Vinson, owner of Super Auto Glass, said business has been booming since the pandemic because of the surge of bipping incidents. He said residents, tourists, rental car companies and dealerships have been calling his business nonstop.
He said about 20% of glass replacements are windshields and the other 80% are other windows in the vehicle.
“We even have some customers call us two or three times a week,” Vinson said. “There’s people who have told us that they have our number on their speed dial.
“It’s good for our business but it is very sad because we don’t like to see our communities like this. This shouldn’t be happening with this frequency.”
McCray said residents have been so frustrated by the thefts that they leave notes for would-be burglars.
“People are even leaving notes on their car saying, ‘Hey, I have nothing inside. Just don’t break my window.’ It’s really sad to think about that because you just want to come in and enjoy the city, but you have to worry about something like that happening.”
Vinson said he has grown frustrated by city leader’s inaction. While on a recent call to replace a customer’s broken-in window in San Francisco, he saw another smash and grab incident happen directly across the street.
“This doesn’t just happen in San Francisco, and unfortunately, it’s happening all across the Bay Area,” he said. “If they do get arrested, they are back on the street the next morning because they aren’t being held in jail.
“I feel like the residents and business owners, have become the cleanup crew. The city leaders and people in power have to understand that what they are doing is also creating a problem. You can’t just let people off because it lets them know it’s OK to continue to do these crimes.
