Residents in one of San Francisco’s most expensive neighborhoods say they’ve been frequently targeted by burglars in recent weeks, according to a report from KPIX.
Multiple Pacific Heights residents told the station they've experienced a surge in attempted - some of which were successful - break-ins.
One of the main techniques cited is thieves will try to drill holes in garage doors so they can reach inside and pull the safety latch to open the structure.
Paul Banas, a 30-year resident who lives on Vallejo St., said drill-wielding burglars have hit his garage eight times, twice in the last three weeks. He told the outlet he used to never use his alarm, but now that has increased,
"Like a lot of residents, we’re worried about what happens next. We think that the crime has gone from the tourists who were in town when there were a lot of smash-and-grabs, and when the tourists disappeared over the pandemic then they had to turn somewhere else and now they’re going into these garages," he said.
Another resident said he’s experienced two break-in attempts recently, one of which was successful as his wife's pediatric bag was stolen. He said that was "pretty brazen" since that for that crime that burglars had to have hopped over walls to get over the gate.
Other residents showed KPIX security footage of people appearing to case the neighborhood, including a man appearing to wander around in the middle of the night in September.
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