Meeting Notes: Neighborhood Security Tuesday, April 16 at 7pm at the HRC

45 people in attendance. Deputies Dan Young and Mike Tabak were present. Important: HCA meeting is next Tuesday at 7pm at the Rec Center. chief of police and detective assigned to this area will be at the hca meeting. They will provide statistics and discuss status on recent burglaries. Taking action on neighborhood security must be shared. No on person will or can do it for us. If you personally want to change your or the neighborhoods status quo, then you must personally make an effort.

BURGLARS METHODS AND IDENTIFICATION OF PROPERTY Cars thefts are at night and are crimes of opportunity: gps, laptops Home thefts are during the day. Is it better to have the car in the driveway or inside the garage? Not a clear answer to that. The burglar may actually watch you leave your house. But they dont study your habits and case your house, in general. criminals take something that they can carry safes only work if they are attached to the floor mark stuff with your drivers license number so that stolen property can be used to investigate, get in touch with you, and recover item for you neighborhood watch program provides an etching tool videotape your property for insurance purposes have a list of serial numbers also itemize value - only for insurance varies as to whether it is groups or individuals; easier to have a drop-off person who also acts as a look-out so more than one is more likely can put this info. out to different departments for recovery of the items

PATROL The sheriff doesnt have set routes to patrol so burglars cant anticipate their schedules.

The sheriff has surveillance equipment with license plates reading in one of their cars, but typically is not used in our situation. the sheriff wants to come out before the problem happens; thats their job. when they get a call and go out they say we are here because there was a call instead of it being presented as i am a deputy and i am harassing you.

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR AND CALLING THE SHERIF We dont want to bug the sheriff. Sheriff wants to get out in the neighborhood and know what is going on. Cannot stop a car for just being there but can if there has been a call-in. Not inconveniencing the sheriffs deputies not at all, please call for any reason; it is not a waste oftime. They want to be proactive instead of reactive. Dont want to take police reports after the crime happens. 363-4911 is the non-emergency number

CONCERNS ABOUT THE MILLBRAE EFFECT ON LOCAL PATROL MELISSA: I asked the follow-up questions in caps to Deputy Young. I havent heard back from him. Rather than continue to wait, I am publishing. My questions were small. Previous status: we were the "20 beat" - a corridor patrol from 92 down to Los Trancos Woods in Portola Valley on the bay side of the peninsula AND UP TO WHAT NORTHERN MOST AREA?. The operations were located in Redwood City. WE HAD ONE DAY PATROL TO COVER THE "20 BEAT" OR DID WE HAVE ONE DAY PATROL TO COVER THE "HIGHLANDS AREA" WHICH INCLUDES OTHER VERY CLOSE NEIGHBORHOODS. Current status: The Highlands contract and coverage remains exactly the same despite adding Millbrae to its area of patrol. Response time has not been negatively affected. In fact, deputies are closer to respond to calls because of the elimination of "20 Beat" and the creation of two areas instead of one. Areas of patrol have been reorganized due to the addition of Millbrae. Millbrae disbanded its police coverage. As a result of the Millbrae addition, the patrol areas have been reorganized so that rather than the "20 beat", our coverage comes from the deputy patrolling the northern area including areas of Brisbane, Colma, Burlingame Hills, and Skyline, as well as SamTrans and Caltrain. There are two other areas as well that are not part of our immediate patrol: coast side and everything south of 92, including San Carlos and the civil bureau (I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS). Because of this reorganization, coverage is actually better because deputies are closer and Millbrae coverage can be brought to the Highlands as "back up".

We have constant coverage from 6am to 6pm WITH ONE (OR ARE THEIR MORE?) DEPUTY ASSIGNED TO THE HIGHLANDS/ASCENSION AREA during these hours. At night, there is only one deputy assigned to the county area from 92 north to So. San Francisco. However, no area is ever left uncovered, i.e. if a deputy from our area needs to be in another area because of an incident, then someone else will move in to do coverage of this area. A CHP officer may also do back-up on a call even though their primary responsibility is traffic. Conversely, the sheriffs office may do back-up for the CHP when necessary. There has been confusion over "the Millbrae issue" because: 1. operations were moved from Redwood City to Millbrae, and 2. the sheriff in charge of our area is both a Sheriff's Lieutenant and also titled the Millbrae "Chief of Police" - but this addition to his title is titular only and not functional. FRUSTRATION WITH THE DISPATCHERS biggest complaint is that they ask too many questions. but they are trying to get as much information ahead of time as the deputies go to the call. Before they start asking all the questions, they have already alerted and send out a dispatch to the officers. Then they start into the in depth questions. the dispatcher has a protocol that they follow. depending on what kind of call (i.e. medical, crime). if you hang up from a 911 call, they call back. and even if you say all is okay, they will still come by and check. they are not part of the sheriffs office, although are contracted by the sheriffs office. county dispatchers always verify where you are calling from even though they have your address. each area of coverage is split in terms of radio frequency: millbrae, highlands, and the samtrans, and caltrain are on one coast is on another san carlos, so. county, and civil bureau are on a third. this gives better coverage because the deputies are closer. when dispatch is asking questions, they arent delaying to your call. the deputy has already been sent out.

SMC ALERTS smc alert is a messaging system via email, phone, etc. by the office of emergency services and the sheriffs office. can sign up for this by going to www.smcalart.info and follow directions for new users. call 599-1297 if you have questions.

Why do smc alerts not cover burglaries in general. he can ask higher-ups to put out more smc alerts about burglars, but they are selective about it because of investigations and are vague as a result and only talk in a general manner.

ACCESS TO THE HIGHLANDS Re: three entrances into the Highlands. There is also a way to get into neighborhood through the watershed gate. the gate has been left open lately (this is the gate that links to the firehouse and juvenile services facility). Deputy Young will check on this with the fire department. The gate should not be open. The watershed area is all barbed-wire; not that easy to get into. MELISSA: If you wan the gate shut and it hasnt happened, to follow up on this issue, call Deputy Young.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH With or without Neighborhood Watch, it is important to know your neighbors and their habits and who visits them. Neighborhood Watch consists of holding a meeting with 10 people on the block to discuss habits. there is a packet for a leader on how to set it up. A person at the meeting took the packet to review and possibly provide leadership. Precautions require participation, however. Often Neighborhood Watch starts strong and then dwindles. We already have Neighborhood Watch signage at our entrances, however they are faded and not very visible. 30 years ago neighborhood watch was started, but no one pursued it because people are so busy. A neighborhood watch usually starts because of some type of incident Components: 1. neighbors look out for each other, know your neighbors, know who goes in or out of neighbors homes so that you can notice something suspicious and call it in 2. trains participants in what is suspicious and how to report 3. trains participants in how to make their homes more secure It is not: a vigilante force a guarantee that crime wont happen an opportunity to be in harms way

The White Oaks area in San Carlos is an active neighborhood watch program, but most neighborhoods do not follow-through. Their program is helped in that the residents are longtimers and know each other well. Nextdoor is serving similar to a Neighborhood Watch.

PUBLIC SECURITY CAMERAS LPR license plate readers record every license plate Not sure it will deter crime but good investigative tool. Tiburon enacted in 2009. Statistics show a 30% decrease in crime, however statistics that only cover 4 years are inadequate evaluation. Possible to post a sign at entrances that say all entrances to this neighborhood are monitored by computer even if not using a camera. Legally there is no right of privacy in public spaces. Camera placed on private (or public) can be pointed towards the street, but need to be sensitive to neighbors. People often dont realize that there are cameras everywhere - public and private buildings are monitored by video. Also stores, gas stations. This is common in our lives already. A local non-profit www.http://neighborhoodguard.org/ has helped local towns/neighborhoods to set up inexpensive cameras and monitoring. A quick visit to the website answers common question. The founder is happy to come out and do a presentation. Book a month in advance. We have one person who has offered to investigate this. Additional people are needed. There was some information about maintaining security cameras on public property in terms of cost. I didnt capture this information. Perhaps post this?

HOME SECURITY Best preventions: perimeter system with an alarm company or do-it-yourself surveillance video, put signs so that they are visible from the street (even if you do not have an alarm system), have a beware of dog (even if you dont have a dog). Need to share camera information can do a security system installation yourself. Cost can be $500 and sent as a kit by www.monitoring servicealam.com. Then, if you choose, they charge $22/month for monitoring. This is different from other companies that require full year contracts. Neighbor Vince Oen has

this system. 650-740-5382 and he will answer your questions. He will do a seminar, but it has to be in June. If you are interested in sharing and others want to learn, can someone else do a seminar on their home-made systems? And, if you want to talk with a security company, can someone invite a security company? There are three types of security cameras: indoor daytime indoor nightvision external waterproof Sliding glass door security can be improved - bolt, ground lock, wood dowel. A problem pointed out is that original Eichler door sliders by Arcadia has the sliders on the door outside so the door can simply be lifted out. Breaking glass makes a lot of noise so it is not as desirable for burglars as an open door.

SOLICITATION Is solicitation permitted in the highlands? Only if person has a permit to solicit. Even that can be fake, so please call sheriff whenever there is a solicitor at the door. Does this apply to Jehovah Witnesses? MELISSA: I could not find in a google search a law on this in the county. If this is a concern of yours, I suggest calling the county. RESEARCH I COULD FIND: Solicitors should respect no solicitation signs, but religious groups often feel this does not apply to them as they are not selling anything. http://nfsa.com/wp-content/ uploads/2012/02/Constitutional-Solicitation.pdf Do we have the right to exclude solicitors in our neighborhood? Could, but would need an ordinance, etc. Dont know if there is an ordinance. Seems as long as there is a permit it is okay.

DECALS Dont pursue. decals only work if every single person is involved there are always house cleaners, etc. if a car doesnt have a sticker, the sheriff cannot stop that car best way is to have vigilant citizens call if there is an odd car