Greetings everyone.
I hope you are all safe and sound after such a stormy last couple of weeks. We had several trees down, traffic signals out and intersections flooded throughout the district but I am happy to report that there no major injuries reported. Just a reminder that driving in the rain is always a bit more tricky than dry conditions so please use more caution and give yourself a bit of extra time so you are don’t find yourself in a rush to get somewhere driving on wet roadways. The old saying of “It’s not worth it” comes to mind if something happened while trying to get somewhere quickly instead of safely. Taraval Station Officers will be more proactive and conducting traffic enforcement along the Sloat Blvd corridor so drive safely.
Your Taraval Neighborhood Team, TNT, has been working hard lately and have made two outstanding arrests. In one caper TNT set up a “bait bike” operation in the area of 46th and Judah. The bait bike was quickly stolen after being briefly left unattended. TNT nabbed the would be thief and low and behold he was on active felony probation for burglary. The surprised bike thief was book into county jail for grand theft and a probation violation. Shockingly we noticed a drop in home burglaries in the neighborhood.
In yet another operation TNT conducted surveillance at the Stonestown Mall parking lot a young man was seen peering in multiple vehicles however none were broken into. TNT officers along with uniformed officers conducted a traffic stop and identified the young man. As it turns out he happens to be on active felony probation for robbery. The young man bemoaned the traffic stop as he declared “I didn’t do anything”, so TNT contacts the probation officer who tells us his probationer is wearing an ankle monitor with GPS capability. The unsuspecting probationer’s travels are subsequently tracked and he is a frequent visitor to numerous areas throughout the City where auto burglaries happen frequently, wow. TNT tracked the young man to the area of the Legion of Honor and observed him breaking into a car and a foot pursuit ensues but the fleet of foot TNT crew quickly make the arrest and declare “we meet again.” The bad guy is booked into county jail for auto burglary and a probation violation. A subsequent search warrant served at his home in San Mateo County reveals evidence linking the thief to approximately 15 prior auto burglary cases. We think auto burglaries around Stonestown might decrease a bit..
Bottom line is the TNT crew and uniformed officers are working hard to keep thieves out of our community and sending a message that more operations are coming and coming.
As I close I would like to give a bit of a tip to everyone which is “If you see something say something”. You are the eyes and ears of the community and Taraval Station has a great relationship with its residents so let us know when you think something is just not right. Go to the stations website at Taraval.org for much more information, follow Taraval Station on twitter at @SFPD Taraval for some really interesting tweets and if you’d like to subscribe to the station newsletter send an email to benny.lew@sfgov.org.