(SAN FRANCISCO) – What kinds of crimes do local residents of the city have to worry about?
According to several posts from locals on Nextdoor, there have been a number of porch pirates recently this December in San Francisco, in addition to the destruction of the back window of a resident’s vehicle.
Nothing was taken out of the car, but it was left damaged.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
In the post, the resident intuited that the vandal smashed the window due to anger towards having difficulty with parallel parking. According to the post, the criminal was a man with long curly hair, driving a silver Toyota.
According to another post, an elderly man climbed over a fence to receive a package containing laundry detergent and yoga pants. The people who steal packages do not know what is within them, yet take them anyway.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
San Francisco residents have recently shared photographs, videos, and descriptions of the culprits of these petty crimes. There are different people of various ages, appearances, and physical descriptions, meaning that the issue is not the result of a single culprit, but rather multiple different people committing the same crimes.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
There is also the issue of tagging, in which a thief marks a living space as a target for future crimes. One San Francisco resident caught footage of what appears to be a young male graffiting the front door of someone’s home with a red marker.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
Unfortunately, there is not one single neighborhood or region of San Francisco where these crimes take place, but rather multiple. Many local residents on Nextdoor report the area of the incident as well as the incident itself, and many stories seem to have various settings within the city, suggesting that there is no part of San Francisco that is completely safe from porch pirates.
Some posts only include descriptions of what took place without any visual evidence, most likely due to a lack of camera security. One resident expressed a want for security in the face of these crimes, but not without the ability to continue receiving packages, and asked for recommendations.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
Many of the porch pirates dress in hoods or masks, and keep their heads down to avoid detection. Even on camera, it is difficult to discern the faces of the people committing the crimes.
Some porch pirates ride bikes, and one may presume that this is for the sake of a quick and easy get-away after a steal.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
Others dress as Amazon delivery employees, but these are simply costumes meant to deceive.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
The Winter season is in effect, and rather than giving, there are porch pirates stealing packages off of doorsteps. While this seems more common during this time of year, during the month of December before holidays such as Christmas, there are also stories of incidents from earlier in the year, suggesting that this form of stealing is not uncommon in San Francisco.
In addition to criminals obscuring their faces with clothing and closed-off body language, the security cameras themselves do not appear to be high-quality. Many of the photographs and videos are blurry, or pick up the darkness of night more than the person stealing a package.
(Photo: Nextdoor)
In this sense, it is difficult to catch a culprit and have them arrested, even if the crime is reported. The police have minimal evidence to work with, and do not fully know the faces and bodies of who they must search for.
If you or anyone you know witnesses vandalism, tagging, or stealing, please inform the police and provide as much information as possible. If you would like to add to this report with any information that can further help residents, please email me at brianna.r@lead4earth.org.
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