San Francisco crime wave: Surprising second gang of burglars driving a Lexus break into parked automobiles throughout daylight ‘bipping and boosting’ raid

Thieves in San Francisco have been caught on digicam cruising the road in a white Lexus, and stopping at parked automobiles to smash the home windows and steal items inside.

The brazen theft was seen in footage obtained by native information station KTVU.

Henry Lee, KTVU’s crime reporter, filmed the scene in Fisherman’s Wharf – the guts of San Francisco’s vacationer district – in broad daylight, and shared it on Twitter on Wednesday. 

One SUV even had an individual sitting within the again when the home windows have been smashed, however the thief nonetheless snatched the sufferer’s bag earlier than escaping within the ready Lexus, leaving the individual inside screaming.

Lt. Tracy McCray advised The New York Post that the smash-and-grab approach was identified within the Bay Space as ‘bipping and boosting’.

‘It actually exploded throughout the pandemic – a lot so that somebody advised me that the sidewalks are glistening and glowing [with glass from windows] the place automobiles are damaged into left and proper,’ she mentioned.

San Francisco had nearly 1,670 car break-ins in the past 30 days, in response to the newest knowledge tracked by the San Francisco Police Division.

Thieves in San Francisco are seen getting right into a white Lexus on Wednesday, having smashed home windows in parked automobiles and stolen items inside

There was practically 10,000 thefts from automobiles within the metropolis up to now this yr.

Indicators might be seen all through the town warning residents and vacationers to not go away something inside their automobiles, however the crime charge has remained stubbornly excessive.

Vacationer areas such because the North Seaside, Japantown and Presidio have the best charge of break-ins in automobiles per 10,000 residents.

Final yr, McCray, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Federation, fell sufferer to the crime herself.

Her automotive was parked on the 1200 block of Franklin Avenue, in between the Tenderloin and Japantown, on March 23, 2022, whereas she visited a relative on the CPMC Van Ness Campus hospital.

McCray mentioned she was parked for lower than half-hour, however nonetheless her automotive was damaged into.

She wrote a weblog submit entitled: ‘Hell – they got me, too!‘

McCray wrote: ‘I had formally develop into a casualty of the auto housebreaking epidemic!

‘Fortuitously, nothing was stolen from my automobile – not even my canine’s soiled towel I exploit to wipe him down after taking part in on the seashore, nevertheless it nonetheless managed to rankle me.

‘Just like the numerous victims of this ‘victimless crime’ I knew that I now needed to commit time to get the window repaired and pay for an sudden expense.

‘It’s all annoying as hell as that damaged and free glass stays days and months later!

‘After mentally sorting by means of the restore course of my subsequent thought turns to the dilemma of: to report or to not report?

‘I, of all folks, know the chance of any such crime being solved on this metropolis with somebody being held accountable.

‘So, I believe to myself, ‘Screw it,’ I’m one among 1000’s of individuals in San Francisco that won’t report against the law.

‘The truth is, with our restricted sources, there are far more severe crimes in want of consideration and my damaged window isn’t one among them.’

McCray mentioned residents have been so pissed off by the thefts that they go away notes for would-be burglars.

‘Individuals are even leaving notes on their automotive saying, ‘Hey, I’ve nothing inside. Simply do not break my window.,” she mentioned.

‘It is actually unhappy to consider that since you simply wish to are available in and benefit from the metropolis, however you must fear about one thing like that taking place.’

Supervisor Dean Preston, whose district contains a number of sizzling spots for automotive break-ins in neighborhoods equivalent to Alamo Sq. and Japantown, final month referred to as for a listening to with the Mayor’s Workplace, police, Municipal Transportation Company and a different metropolis departments to elucidate to the Board of Supervisors what’s being achieved about the issue.

‘Regardless of many bulletins, the town has made no noticeable progress in addressing this persistent challenge,’ he mentioned.

‘It is time to let the general public know what’s been working and what hasn’t, and what might be achieved collaboratively to lastly scale back automotive break-ins.

‘In the meantime, residents proceed to take care of damaged automotive home windows, stolen possessions, and shattered glass on streets and sidewalks, whereas guests are left with trauma, monetary loss, and less-than-ideal recollections of their visits.’

A police spokesman advised The San Francisco Standard that they have been working to determine members of legal gangs.

‘We perceive that perpetrators are organized and infrequently come from exterior the town to prey on the residents and the various guests to our metropolis,’ mentioned Robert Rueca.

‘We’re working to determine these networks of criminals and we’re making arrests.’