Crime & Safety

Police Captain Says Crime Trending Down in San Carlos

The Third Annual Town Hall Meeting took place Tuesday night.

Police Chief Greg Rothaus said crime this year has been trending downward but reminded citizens not to become complacent at the Third Annual Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday night.

“We’re fortunate to live in a safe place, but on the other side of the coin, we do have crime,” Rothaus said. “People believe because San Carlos is so safe they can keep their cars unlocked. It’s not OK. If you keep your car unlocked and you keep valuable stuff in your car, I don’t know how we can help you.”

Rothaus, aided by a statistical power point presentation, said the city’s crime rate is lower than the overall county rate.

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“We live in a safe county, and in a safe city within that county,” he said.

 Crime is up, Rothaus said, since the early 2000s but down since 2009. San Carlos, he said, has a higher crime rate than Belmont and Foster City but a lower rate than Burlingame and Los Gatos, four cities the Sheriff’s Office chooses to compare the city against based on population size and demographics.

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 Property crime continues to be the most commonly-seen crime by city police.

 The Sheriff reported 36 thefts from vehicles in San Carlos since the beginning of May, more than half of which occurred in unlocked cars.

 “The way these suspects operate at times is to try car door handles," the notification said. “If it's unlocked, they enter and look for items of value. If it's locked, they often move to the next car hoping it will not be.”

Despite the high amount of thefts of items from automobiles, Rothaus said the city has seen only two major robberies in 2011 as opposed to 14 in 2009 and 11 in 2010.

 

 


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