Potrero Hill, San Francisco

An officer responded to the 1300 block of Minnesota to take a cold burglary report. The suspect who was caught on a security recording had entered the building several times through the garage door to burglarize the vehicles in the garage. As luck would have it the car he chose belonged to a criminal defense attorney who was now late to court! The officer asked the attorney, who also saw the irony in the situation, if he wanted us to refer him to the suspect if the suspect was caught. The victim/defense attorney, smiling, said that there might be a small conflict of interest in that particular case.

In this particular case, it appeared from the security recording that the suspect had obtained a garage door remote controller since he was able to go in and out as he pleased. Remember that a controller is just like a key to a building and should be safeguarded similarly. Would you leave your car or house keys sitting in your car? If you have your controller attached to your visor, sitting on the console, etc., that is exactly what you are doing. If it disappears, alert your building management immediately and have the code changed for the opener.

Since it is likely that the controller was taken in a previous burglary, it is probable that the suspect originally entered the building when a resident drove out of the garage and did not watch the door close. When you are leaving it is extremely important for you and your neighbors that you watch the door go completely down. You can either spend a few seconds watching the door go down or spend a few hours, filing police reports and getting your car repaired (and being late to court).

Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 5:00 AM, 1300 block of Minnesota, Burglary on a Defense Attorney’s vehicle (case # 051348722)