On March 29, 2010, a home invasion robbery took place in San Carlos on the 1300 block of Hull Drive. A 47-year old man was tied up while between two and four individuals ransacked the house. The victim stated that he felt something cold against the back of his head which may have been a gun. The victim managed to free himself and call police. It was discovered that the robbers got away with some cash and jewelry. Similar type crimes are not terribly frequent for San Carlos but, “crime has really gone through the roof in this past six-to-eight-month period,” said Sgt Marti Overton of the San Carlos Police Department, eluding to 10 residential burglaries that happened in the first two months of 2010.
The escalation in crime comes at a critical time for San Carlos. San Carlos is currently considering outsourcing its current police department in favor of using the Sheriff’s Department. The possible move has some residents on edge, while others feel that the move is essential to the city finally getting a grip on its budgetary woes. This post will be updated as more information becomes available.
14 Comments
Hi Bob,
I don’t want to get hysterical, but this definitely alarms me, especially since they robbed his home while he was there! Did the San Carlos Police release information about the individuals? What can we do to better protect our homes and ourselves from such crimes?
My last question in regards to outsourcing law enforcement…would the Sheriff’s Department respond equally well when there is an emergency such as this?
-Racquel
Hi Racquel,
All good questions. As soon as more information is released from the police department I will post it under this article.
With regard to the Sheriff’s department reacting equally well in a similar situation….that’s a tough question to answer. I don’t know about this exact situation, but common sense would dictate that the SCPD has a long history in San Carlos, knows the streets better, routes, tendencies of criminals, etc….so I would have to assume that they would be at least slightly better equipped to handle the situation. Whether this difference is enough to justify a change to the Sheriff’s Department is an unknown.
Thanks for the post.
Bob
I am wondering what raquel is referring to when she says would the Sherriff’s department react equally well? It sounds like the police came to the scene after the criminals left. What reaction was there? I am not defending the sherriff, but we have to be realistic. This crime happened, no one has been apprehended, and the escalation of crime has occurred while we have maintained local control. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions about other jurisdictions when we don’t know the facts. The only facts we know if that crime is rising while we still have our own PD.
Regardless of this budget situation, handing over control of our police & fire to the county and the state (respectively) is a BAD IDEA. And if it happens, it can’t just magically “change back” when we find the level of service isn’t what we need or expect.
LT is right. Once you give up any bit of local control it is almost impossible to get back. Look at how much of a disaster our current Fire JPA is. We gave up some control and are continually being forced to pay more than our share, what can we do about it? Nothing. Do we want this to happen with our PD as well?
i live near where this happened and this really pisses me off . If you people want to protect your homes, lock your windows and doors and buy your self a shot gun for home defense . Btw what ethnicity were these pieces of garbage ? and from the way i see it the trash has learned that people in san carlos are “rich” and i tihnk all these robberies in SC are from people who do not live in the city
Los Altos Hills out sourced their regular patrols years ago to the Santa Clara county sherrif dept and nothing agianst them but they are fairly stretched. Patrols are regular and somewhat predicatable. Speed traps are also a major focus, but response times to issues are honestly slow unless by chance there is a cruiser in the hills already.
Now the SCPD has their speed traps etc to try and bring in a little more cash, but they do know the streets/ people and are generally very good at their job. That will be hard to replace with a county sherrifs dept.
Arming yourself is a right, but its kinda lame. If there are several suspects barging in you could easily be overtaken trying to load a weapon only to then give it up in a struggle or worse.
I am sure this incident was terrifying for the victim.
Thank God, he is OK.
We can insure “stuff” but not our persons.
I believe the poor economy is part of the reason for increased crime in San Carlos. When people are out of work and have no legal means to support themselves, crime becomes an option.
I too am concerned about proposed out-source of police.
But let’s not believe that out-source is the only way to balance the City budget.
The “big-wigs” in City Hall could take a pay cut.
In fact, all City employees could take a pay cut.
In reading the City emails about the budget issue, I believe police and fire compensation has increased 25% to 30% over the past 5 or 6 years.
That’s better than I have done.
I went two years with NO increase and got a 2% increase this year.
Now granted my office job may not be as important as police and fire but I believe I do a good job and that my efforts contribute to the community too.
Jane,
Do not kid yourself. Your paycheck which helps pay income tax, sales tax, and property tax helps pay for police and fire. Don’t think for a second that your job does not stack up to police and fire. Without people like you police and firemen would not have the great pensions that they have now.
Crooks shop for the best risk/reward ratio – they just want the best buck for their bang.
Without an alarm, what are the odds that a police officer – SC or otherwise – will happen to be cruising by your house AND notice something fishy going sufficient to stop and investigate? Think of how many streets we have and how many cruisers are out and you’ll realize the odds insurmountable.
It’s all up to us to be watchful and careful. Make yourself a riskier, harder target. They say any lock can be defeated, but at least it requires time and skill to bypass a bump-proof lock. If you were a crook which house would you choose? An unlit one with a plain old Schlage, or one bathed with light behind a high-end lock displaying an NRA sticker?
If you are going to leave your fate up to the police, you will most likely not have a positive outcome when one of these animals decides to invade your home. Police are great, but I do not count on them to protect me or my family. There are just not enough officers driving around to watch us all…
What I find disturbing is that I did not get this story from the City’s normal email alert service. I wonder why? I know there was a lot of outrage over the brazen robberies at Best Buy a few months back. There needs to be more pressure on the County to issue concealed carry firearm permits. The maggots that will come and shoot you for the watch on your wrist or the money in your pocket just have no respect for humans. They do care about themselves and will think twice about walking into areas known to have armed citizens. There is no help for the economy in sight with the current political leadership so much more of these stories will surface. My house is well protected and I would not mind carrying in public to scare off the turds that will be invading our city.
OK OK everyone calm down. The vast majority of these “home invasion” robberies are related to other crimes going down in the targeted house–drug deals, gang activity, etc. Let’s find out the whole story before jumping to the conclusion that San Carlos is now a crime-ridden ghetto that can’t afford to consider alternative policing models. I’m with PackingInSC, relax the concealed carry permits so we can protect ourselves.
Sounds like someone else has been invading homes.
Supreme Court won’t toss case against san carlos cops
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/05/BAOP1CPVKV.DTL&tsp=1
I agree with what a couple of my neighbors said up there. Strap up! Go to our local gun shop and pick up a 9mm handgun and a shotgun. Worried about loading it? Keep it loaded!
Have a locksmith come out and check your locks. They can recommend making changes that will make it harder to break in to your house.
Ultimately we’re all in charge of our own personal safety.