Hello All,
On Tuesday night we had two collisions in the district. One left a bicyclist seriously injured and the other took the life of a pedestrian. As many of you know, the officers of Taraval Station conducted numerous traffic enforcement operations every week in an effort to change the behavior of drivers traveling though our neighborhoods.
The first collision involving the bicyclist occurred at 7:17 pm on the Great Highway just south of Vicente. In an effort to address community concerns, we have conducted targeted enforcement in the area to stop those who are traveling above the speed limit. Both officers of Taraval Station and the Traffic Company responded to the area and issued numerous citations. We will continue our efforts on a daily basis in hopes to eliminate traffic collisions on this corridor.
The second collision involving the tragic loss of life occurred on Brotherhood Way and Junipero Serra. In this case, the pedestrian was struck by a driver of a motorcycle while trying to cross the roadway. The collision occurred on the onramp to Brotherhood Way from Junipero Serra. Based on observations of the scene, it appears a crosswalk was not painted on the roadway but there is a marked handicap access ramp from the sidewalk into the roadway. This leads me to believe it is intended to accommodate pedestrian traffic. Clearly, this roadway needs immediate improvement with a marked crosswalk that should be enhanced with reflectors and signage. One of my sergeants photographed the area of concern and I have forwarded these photos to SFMTA so they can look into the proper engineering of this crosswalk. I know, from hearing from the community, this pedestrian crossing area has been of concern for a long time. I will be sure to follow up with SFMTA and Supervisors Yee’s Office so we can see that the necessary improvements are completed. On our end, our Traffic Company officers conducted a speeding enforcement operation on Brotherhood Way between Summit Way and Lake Merced Blvd which resulted in 12 citations for 22350 CVC- Speeding. In partnership, officers from Taraval Station and Traffic Company will conduct pedestrian enforcement operations at this location. These operations will focus enforcement on drivers who do not yield to pedestrians.
We also heard the concerns of citizens regarding drivers who are failing to yield to pedestrians in the area of Ocean Ave. and Santa Ana. A pedestrian enforcement operation was conducted which resulted in 25 citations of drivers in violation of 21950 CVC-Yield to pedestrian in crosswalk.
In our commitment to the community and Focus on the Five, we will continue to conduct traffic enforcement operations to change the behavior of drivers.
As the Captain of Taraval Station, part of my duties is to closely watch the crime trends within the district. I am able to successfully do so by reviewing data which is analyzed by our Crime Analysis Unit. On a daily basis, I read incidents reports which document the crime in the Taraval. By reading these reports and reviewing the data analysis, I am able to strategically deploy our resources and be more effective in our efforts to improve public safety.
Residential Burglaries and Theft from Vehicle incidents continue to be the topic of conversations I have had with many of you. In March, we saw a total number of 73 burglaries in the district. Of the 73 burglaries, 25 were hot prowl burglaries which means that resident was home when the suspect entered the home. With the data analysis, we were able to pin point not only where the incidents were occurring, but we were also able to see on which days of the weeks they were more frequent and the times of those days when they were occurring. In order to address the number of burglaries, we deployed uniformed officers to the impacted neighborhoods for higher visibility and worked in partnership with TNT officers assigned to plain clothes as well as stellar investigations by the Taraval SIT team. Our efforts have proven effective as in the month of April we saw in decrease in burglaries from 73 to 29 with only 10 of the 29 being hot prowls. I must add, I believe this decrease is not only the result of station efforts but rather the efforts of both officers and units citywide who are working very hard to identify prolific burglars and conduct investigations that result in arrests and offer strong cases for the District Attorney’s office to prosecute.
I think it’s important to convey to the community that we continue to communicate with the District Attorney’s regarding criminal investigations and the prosecution of the criminals. Based on many discussions that have occurred, I am growing increasingly confident that the District Attorney’s office is looking at these cases on a case to case basis and are moving forward to prosecute these criminals.
For cases of Theft from Vehicle, we have seen our biggest decrease since January. In January we saw 200 cases, in February there were 157, in March 154 and in April we have seen our lowest number at 117 cases. In my opinion, I attribute this to not only our efforts but the efforts of the community as well. Last week, we had two incidents in which uniformed officers made arrests for Theft from Vehicle suspects based on calls from the community. Thank you to everyone who is taking an active role in their neighborhood safety. Thank you to all of you who are looking out for your neighbors and for being the eyes and ears for the officers of Taraval Station. We could not be as successful without your partnership.