BY VANESSA CARR AND AMANDA MARTINEZ

Originally published on Mission Loc@l. Click here for more photos from the fire.

A two-alarm fire blazed high into the sky from a three-story apartment building on 26th and Osage streets at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, according to Deputy Chief Patrick Gardner. No one was found inside the building during a search and no firefighters were injured, Gardner said just before 3 p.m.

Firefighters were still trying to contain the fire in the walls of the building, which were visible to onlookers. They believe the blaze started on the second floor and spread up through the roof, popping out glass in the windows, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Third-floor residents Max Hurwitz, 26, and R.J. Philips, 24, were inside the estimated 16-unit building when the fire began and suspect that it started in the central stairwell where trash is stored and people are known to smoke.

“People leave ashtrays in the stairwell, I wouldn’t be surprised,” if the fire was caused by a flicked cigarette that landed on the trash, they said.

Hurwitz said the crackling woke him from a nap. He ran to the kitchen and saw flickering lights from the door leading to a stairwell. He opened the door and found the fire blazing. He quickly shut the door and and started yelling for his roommate, Philips, who was studying for a philosophy final at San Francisco State University.

The two grabbed a fire extinguisher that Hurwitz’s mom had given him and attempted to put out the flames.

“We double teamed it,” said Hurwitz, re-enacting the scene.

But the fire was too large so they ran out of the building down a different stairwell. Hurwitz was able to grab a backpack with his wallet and laptop, but Philips was not so lucky.

“My whole life is in there,” said Philips, who was standing on the street in gray long johns looking extremely distressed.

When the two fled the building, other neighbors were screaming and running out.

Six fire engines and two trucks responded from at least five different fire stations, including the nearest on 26th and Church streets as well as stations in Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill.

One firefighter was poised on the top of an extended ladder over the building as a precaution, but firefighters inside the apartment were able to “stay on the offensive” and contain it from the inside, said Deputy Chief Gardner.

It was easier to put out the fire because the alley beside the house gave better access and allowed the truck to come in, a firefighter said.

Hundreds of people crowded around the scene, the air reeking of smoke. Some who were near the fire before police cordoned off the street were dusted with soot. The smoke blotted out an otherwise blue sunny sky as it began to rain.

Ana Pérez and Roberto Lovato at Friday's celebration.

BY VANESSA CARR

Originally published on Mission Loc@l/

Bay Area activists celebrated the end to their six-month campaign against news anchorman Lou Dobbs and CNN on Friday night with pupusas, margaritas and dancing inside the bright orange and mint walls of Dolores Street Community Services.

Dobbs announced his resignation from CNN on air on Nov. 11.

“If there is a war on immigrants, the head of that war was Lou Dobbs,” said Roberto Lovato, one of the co-founders of Presente, the Berkeley-based group behind BastaDobbs.com that formed in May of this year.

Presente coordinated with many local and regional Latino organizations across the country to counter Dobb’s anti-immigrant message. The campaign created a petition for CNN to drop Dobbs. They collected more than 100,000 signatures.

“CNN, you can’t have it both ways,” explained a video on BastaDobbs.com that got about as many views as the petition got signatures. On one hand, CNN courted Latino viewers with Latino talent and programming. On the other, they employed Dobbs, who’s been criticized for fomenting hatred toward Latinos.

Neither Dobbs nor CNN recognized the campaign as a reason for his departure. This did not surprise Lovato.

“CNN was internally divided about what to do [about Dobbs],” he said. And leveraging this was central to the campaign’s strategy.

Another important strategy was technology. More innovative than the viral video and online petition was their use of text messaging. Getting involved was as simple as texting “basta” or “enough” to their campaign number.

More than 10,000 people signed up via text message, according to Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte, a co-founder of Presente and campaign manager for ColorOfChange.org.

“We never said that technology is a weapon—we showed them,” said Ana Pérez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center who helped spread the word to Latino organizations nationally.

Presente drew strategy ideas and inspiration from online organizing successes preceding them—including Color of Change, which does online organizing with the black community, and MoveOn.org. Helping to adapt these strategies for a Latino audience with Presente was James Rucker, executive director for Color of Change and former director of grassroots organizing for MoveOn.org.

According to Rey-Goodlatte, Presente’s success in winning a large national campaign like that against Dobbs in such a short period of time was unprecedented.

To him, this indicates that “there are a lot of Latinos out there who are ready to be engaged in a serious and strategic platform.”

For Lovato, it represents a step forward in humanizing and understanding the Latino experience—and acknowledging that anti-immigrant rhetoric hurts people.

“People don’t recognize Latino pain,” said Lovato, who resembles Van Jones as much for his deep-hearted way of speaking as for his wire-frame glasses and bald head.

“As an indigenous woman from Oaxaca, I carry a lot of sorrow about what our people have been through,” said Laurie Ignacio. She said that “carrying a lot of defeat from generations past” meant she wasn’t confident the Dobbs campaign would be successful.

“But we do win sometimes!” she added.

Several speakers during the award ceremony linked the dehumanization of immigrants with hate crimes against them.

“To kill, maim, injure somebody, you have to take away their humanity first,” said Lovato.

Eric Quezada, director of Dolores Street Community Services, said immigrants are unfairly scapegoated because people are frustrated by larger issues.

“Demagogues like Lou Dobbs exist because of the political climate and economic crisis,” he said. “It’s easy to scapegoat immigrants to divert attention from other problems in society.”

Their next campaign will focus on immigration reform and on humanizing Latinos, said Favianna Rodriquez, one of the core founders of Presente with a shock of pink in her curly hair.

But before moving to the next campaign, the organizers took a moment to breathe, dance and imbibe.

“I feel overwhelmed, honored and very emotional,” said Lovato of the victory.

Jeff Godown, the newly minted commander for CompStat.

BY VANESSA CARR

This piece was originally published on Mission Loc@l on November 5, 2009.

Captain Stephen Tacchini of Mission Station explained why drugs, prostitution and street-level violence plague certain parts of the district, but that wasn’t enough for Police Commander Jeff Godown, the remarkably tall detective wooed from Los Angeles to run the city’s new crime tracking system.

“Now that you told me why this occurs, I want you to tell me what we’re going to do to get rid of it,” he said.

This line of questioning, often interrupting the captains mid-sentence, defined Godown’s style at the second public meeting Wednesday morning. It also reflects the core intent of CompStat, the crime tracking system introduced two weeks ago by the new Police Chief George Gascón: Focus on solutions, not explanations.

Captain Stephen Tacchini fields questions.

Standing in the Scottish Rite Memorial across from Stern Grove that was packed with blue uniforms, each captain fielded questions for up to 45 minutes about the crime they reported over the past month. Godown grilled captains from three of the city’s most crime-ridden districts: the Bayview, Mission and Tenderloin. The other two districts presenting, Taraval and Central, were not as thoroughly questioned.

Tacchini reported that violent crime in the Mission was up three percent in the last month, though it’s down 21 percent this year compared with last. Property crime was down 22 percent in the last month and 26 percent in the last year.

Godown and Gascón asked questions based on a breakdown of crimes by type that were distributed to officers but not projected on the screen or made publicly available.

In the Mission District, rape, aggravated assault and auto theft cases were singled out for most of the questioning.

“After a homicide, [rape] is one of the most serious crimes we deal with,” Gascón said.

This year, there have been 19 reported rapes in the Mission, but only two arrests.

“Do we profile suspects?” he asked, referring to a process that would identify trends in criminal behavior, whether it be other crimes like drugs or serial rapes.

Lieutenant Dan Leydon from the centralized sexual assault unit.

Lieutenant Dan Leydon from the centralized sexual assault unit explained the challenges presented by rape cases, which often involve acquaintances, intoxication and recalcitrant victims. But Gascón didn’t seem satisfied.

“For the next CompStat meeting, I want you to present profiles of rapists in the city. I really want to understand…who these people are, what they’re engaged with and what we’re going to do,” said Gascón.

He and Godown made clear that they expect greater thoroughness when profiling criminals across the board. They cited the thick files that gang units collect on their suspects as exemplary.

“There is going to be some labor intensive work… for tracking,” said Godown. “Not just for us to look at up on the screen but for you to use at your stations.”

But it’s more than a new way of tracking that Godown wants. He wants to see a better way of communicating across districts and the centralized units.

“We have three different stories for the same problem,” said Godown, referring to the different units that respond to aggravated assault cases in the Mission.

Assault there takes many forms: domestic violence, street fights, gang violence, or riffraff outside clubs, according to Lieutenant Dominic Celaya, head of the aggravated assault unit, who will soon be promoted to captain of the Tenderloin station.

“The Mission is hard to pin down to be quite honest,” he said.

Gascón saw this as a failure of communication.

“You guys who are centralized need to be talking,” he said.

No moment better illustrated the problems with communication across the department then when no one, including Gascón, seemed to know the number of parolees in the city.

Godown pointed out that if they don’t know how many there are, they certainly aren’t tracking who they are.

As the department upgrades its admittedly archaic computer system, a process that could take months or longer, the CompStat meetings will evolve. And once their records are all kept electronically instead of relying so heavily on paper, communication within the department will be made much easier.

But in the meantime, the act of sharing information across units — and enduring the sting of tough questions asked publicly — seems it could be transformative by itself.

The next meeting will be held Nov. 18.

On Halloween, parole agents will monitor sex offenders statewide to ensure they don't participate. (Source: CDCR)

BY VANESSA CARR

Originally published on Mission Loc@l.

No candy, no decorations, no porch light and definitely no trick-or-treaters.

On Halloween night, these things spell parole violation for some registered sex offenders in California, thanks to “Operation Boo,” a special one-night-only set of rules enforced by parole that includes a dawn-to-dusk curfew and prohibition against handing out candy.

But in San Francisco, because 67 of the 72 registered sex offenders on parole are homeless, Operation Boo calls in a different set of rules, according to Fred Bridgewater, the Region II assistant public information officer for the California Division of Adult Parole.

Transient offenders must report to the Northern California Service League in SoMA from 5 to 10 p.m. on Halloween, after which the agency expects most children will be back at home. Year round, they must wear GPS tracking devices and report to their parole agents weekly to update them on their whereabouts.

In addition to those on parole, there are 58 registered sex offenders in the Mission District’s 94110 zip code who have completed their parole terms and therefore are not covered by Operation Boo.

Thirty-eight of those offenders were convicted of sexual crimes with children 15 and younger, according to the Megan’s Law website.

Though all sex offenders must register their addresses at least once a year for life, only offenders considered high risk are subject to school-related residency restrictions once they have completed their three-year parole term. Those convicted of child molestation or child annoyance cannot live within a half a mile of a school, and sexually violent predators cannot live within a quarter of a mile.

Bridgewater said that although Operation Boo has been in existence for 17 years, “there are no historical problems that gave rise to this operation.” Sergeant Wilfred Williams, public information officer for the San Francisco Police Department, said he does not remember any major incidents involving sex offenders and children on Halloween during his 17-year tenure with the department.

The high number of transient parolees in San Francisco reflects the difficulty of paroled sex offenders complying with the 2006 Proposition 83 that prohibits them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park, regardless of whether their offense involved children.

“When you apply that to the city and county of San Francisco, virtually the whole city is not compliant,” said Bridgewater. The number of transient sex offenders rose dramatically soon after the 2006 law was implemented, according to data from the California Sex Offender Management Board.

The difficulty for sex offenders convicted in San Francisco and paroled after Proposition 83 was passed is that they serve their parole terms in the county where they committed their crime unless they are granted a parole region transfer–which is seldom successful.

This has left San Francisco sex offenders with few options and an increasing number live in encampments, under bridges or in parks. Only San Diego is as difficult a city for sex offenders to find housing, Bridgewater said.

Two Bay Area civil rights attorneys are challenging the legality of the residency restrictions imposed by Proposition 83. They are representing four parolees—including one who lives in San Francisco—in cases that will be argued in front of the California Supreme Court on Nov. 3.

“We want the court to rule that this law violates the state constitution and shouldn’t be enforced,” said Ernest Galvan, one of the attorneys.

The 17-member California Sex Offender Management Board—representing both state and non-governmental agencies—issued a report in January 2009 recommending “that the California State Legislature, Governor, and local governments reconsider residency restrictions to create an offender housing and supervision solution that balances three essential concerns,” including public safety, fair share and local control.

Full disclosure: Vanessa Carr worked as a paralegal in Ernest Galvan’s law firm from 2005-2006

Originally published on Mission Loc@l.

Legislation aimed at improving the San Francisco Entertainment Commission’s ability to shut down “bad apple” nightclubs was approved Monday by the three-member City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee and will soon go to the full Board of Supervisors.

“With additional tools and new directions,” said Supervisor Bevan Dufty to the hundreds of residents who attended the meeting, “I think we can work together to address problems without creating a chilling effect on entertainment.”

The proposed amendments to the police code will refine the permitting process for clubs and venues, grant emergency suspension powers to the director of the Entertainment Commission to address immediate public safety and noise violations, clarify the application requirements for nightclubs open past 2 a.m. and require more security for after-hours establishments.

Neighbors upset by the noise and violence coming from nightclubs said they feared the changes would increase the number of clubs operating after hours and give the commission too much power over public safety concerns.

Some who attended the meeting said the police could better handle such issues, as they did until the commission was founded in 2002.

Clubgoers, owners and employees—as well as a brass band on the City Hall steps—were at the meeting in far greater numbers than those opposing the changes. They believe expanding the commission’s powers will only help residents address concerns about violence.

Residents disagreed.

“Late nights, it’s like a state of seige,” said Bill McElhiney, who lives in the Mission District near Potrero Avenue and opposes the legislation. “I don’t see how extending the hours is going to improve an already intolerable situation.”

“I have had to call SFPD 100 times in the past year,” said Tyler Krehlik. “If you want proof of why I need to call, come dig the bullet out of my living room wall.” The bullet, he said, was shot from inside the club across the street.

Another resident showed a video of brawls, motorcycles and long lines outside nightclubs in the Tenderloin and Union Square.

Others felt that the threat nightclubs pose to public safety was overstated.

“There is more violence in our schools and on Muni,” said José Segue of the CalAmericana Association.

Of those who spoke in favor of the changes, many cited the cultural capital and jobs that the local entertainment industry creates. San Francisco’s permissive attitude towards nightlife, some said, is how the city birthed so many counter-culture movements. Others argued that a more powerful commission would create solutions, not problems, to the violence and noise.

“The Entertainment Commission should have power to deal with loitering and queue lines,” said Cory Knudson, an articulate 17-year-old with long hair and studs on his jacket, who travels from Vacaville twice a month to see shows at places like Slim’s. “Final decision should be made by citizen stakeholders through the Entertainment Commission and not the police.”

“They are making us do a better job,” said Robbie Kowal, who owns Mojito in North Beach, Sunset Promotions, North Beach Jazz Fest and a number of other entertainment ventures. “It is very interesting that an industry is speaking in favor of its regulation.”

Before the commission, Kowal told Mission Loc@l, there was no rational process for addressing citizen complaints. Now if a neighbor complains about noise, he said, the commission sends out a sound tester to make recommendations if more soundproofing is needed.

“Venues in particular are unfairly targeted,” said Michael Casey, a sound engineer and musician who relies on nightclubs “to practice art and earn a living.”

The debate spilled outside the hearing room, as Mission resident Judy West said she is exasperated by the shootings, car burnouts and guns outside Circolo on Mariposa and Florida streets. The club has become an “unbelievable magnet for violence” and has turned their otherwise quiet street into a playground for drug dealers and pimps, she said.

“A stronger Entertainment Commission would be able to handle these issues,” responded Michael Winger, co-chair of the Recording Academy San Francisco chapter. “If I were you, I’d be angry at the police.”

There appeared to be significant confusion among attendees about what the proposed legislation would mean for late-night permits. Supervisor David Chiu stressed repeatedly that the wording would enable to commission to “cite, regulate and shut down these [problem] clubs.”

The proposed amendments would partially cap the number of late-night permits if the total number of new permits grows by more than 15 percent in a year. Of the 106 businesses permitted as “extended-hours premises,” 45 are bars or nightclubs, only four of which are in the Mission. The rest are all-night donut shops, diners and taquerías, of which seven are in the Mission.

At Supervisor Chris Daly’s request, the extended-hours cap will be voted on separately from the rest of the amendments at the full board meeting.

Underlying the criticism of the new legislation seemed to be a deeper mistrust of the commission, which has drawn criticism for being padded with insiders and was reprimanded by a 2007 Civil Grand Jury for lacking operational procedures and communication with police.

“The Entertainment Commission has had some significant ethical conflict,” Chiu acknowledged. “[It] needs more transparency. Too many decisions [are made] behind closed doors.”

Of the five current commission members, the SF Weekly reported in July, only two do not have financial ties to the entertainment industry.

Some provisions of the new legislation attempt to make the commission more publicly accountable—such as a new requirement to produce quarterly reports detailing all complaints and their resolution.

Chiu also suggested that the Public Safety Committee would work to assess nightclub violence and whether or not the commission is doing its job in “regulating the bad apples.”

“If there are problems, we will [introduce] additional reforms,” he said.

Originally published on Mission Loc@l.

Mostly middle-aged and older residents eager for answers from police about this weekend’s three homicides packed into the community center Tuesday night on 24th Street and Treat Avenue.

While many applauded the unmistakable increase in police patrolling along 24th Street,  some worried that panic about gang violence could result in unfair targeting of Latino youth and immigrants — and risk escalating gang tensions.

“It’s a delicate balance how you police,” said Captain Stephen Tacchini. “I don’t want to make it look like anything that moves will be detained,” but “if anyone is engaged in illegal activity, we are stopping them.”

The department will maintain its full-court press policing for at least the next few days, Tacchini said. Though two suspects are in custody for the Sunday shootings at Papa Potrero’s Pizza that left two dead and one injured, no one has been identified for the murder on Friday.

Police believe the three murders are gang-related.

Some residents attending the meeting said police and media spoke too soon when alleging that the shootings were gang-related.

“Just because they’re Latino and wearing red doesn’t mean they’re gang-related,” said one resident, whose eyes welled with tears as he spoke. “This really bothers me.”

He said that patrons of Papa Potrero’s Pizza, where Sunday’s shooting took place, were wearing red because the San Francisco 49ers were playing a football game that many were watching on television.

“We’re not taking anyone in because they’re 49ers’ fans and especially not just because they’re Latinos,” responded Lieutenant James Spillane of the homicide unit.

Confusion among residents about the extent to which the murders were gang-related intensified as police failed to clearly explain how police identify gang members.

Lt. Spillane told Mission Loc@l that gang affiliation is ascertained in a number of ways including direct disclosure, previous court cases and officer intelligence.

“If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, and has feathers like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” he said.

The dramatic increase in traffic stops since the murder on Friday was another concern for some residents who worried about racial profiling. Other residents, however, scoffed at such a concern and said safety came first.

Tacchini was frank: Officers are targeting people on parole and probation. The reason is that these suspects can be searched without a warrant and arrested if police find drugs or weapons. The shakedowns are intended to have a chilling effect on criminal activity by making drugs and guns riskier to carry.

What everyone seemed to agree on was that law enforcement alone cannot address issues of youth violence. Residents underscored the importance of  prevention — offering youth alternatives to hanging out on the sidewalk — as well as developing better relationships among neighbors.

Prevention work has been made much more difficult by city budget cuts, said Alfredo Pedroza, the mayor’s liaison to Districts 9, 11 and the Latino community. The city budget has been slashed by a half-billion dollars, he said.

But block-level organizing is free.

“When people feel threatened, they take action,” said David Delp, a member of  Treat One Thousand, a neighborhood watch organization on the 1,000 block of Treat Avenue. The group started after the string of murders in August 2008.

Delp said their block has transformed dramatically since they first circulated a contact list for everyone on the block. Many share keys, or hold joint garage sales and get together socially four to five times a year.

“It makes a huge difference to be able to walk down the street and know your neighbors,” he said.

In 2007, their block had no trick or treaters on Halloween. Last year, they had approximately 350.

After the murders on Treat Avenue last year, Delp said he and his neighbors made a point of sitting out on the corner to drink coffee and hang out. Their presence helped make the block less scary and encouraged others to visit local businesses. The latter suffer greatly in the wake of a violent crime, he said.

Delp encouraged residents to order pizza at Papa Potrero’s this week.

“When people get scared, the gangs win,” he said

Originally published on Mission Loc@l.

Twenty-one-year-old Michael Sanchez was shot and killed on the corner of 24th and Shotwell streets at 7:10 p.m. Friday night in an incident police believe to be gang related. Another victim was also shot but is in stable condition, according to a crime alert from Captain Stephen Tacchini.

This is the first known murder in the Mission District this year. Eyewitness reports of the incident varied.

“There was a gun battle,” said Peter Ambrosia, who lives half a block from the incident. “I heard at least five shots.”

A witness who wouldn’t be identified said he saw a white stretch limousine and small SUV approach the intersection before the shooting. Angry words were exchanged between people in the vehicles and people on the street, then a fight broke out and the two victims were shot.

He believed the two groups to be members of the Norteño and Sureño gangs, which are typically associated with red and blue, respectively. Ambrosia said he saw several people in baggy white shirts.

Police responded Saturday by saturating the area with additional patrols, including the Honda Unit—a squad of officers on sporty motorcycles—the mostly plain-clothed Gang Task Force and Fugitive Recovery Enforcement Team, and additional bicycle and foot-beat officers, Tacchini said in the alert. A command van was also spotted at 24th and Folsom streets.

At this time last year, there was a string of seven murders in a two-week period. Gang violence has been down so far this year, said Officer Kate Joshua from the command van, and police are upping their presence in an effort to keep it that way.

Jessie Santiago, who has been living at the 24th and Shotwell intersection for 15 years, said he heard a gunshot and looked outside to see a large brawl broken out involving what he estimated to be ten teenagers out of a group of 30-40.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that kind of action,” said nearby resident Regina Sinsky. A man was shot outside of her house last year, she said.

But several neighbors reported that things have been getting louder in the neighborhood over the past few months. Sinsky has noticed a lot more “gang bangers” hanging out, more “rowdiness” and angry voices, and more cars speeding and doing burnouts.

In the past week alone, she’s called the police three times, she said.

“When it starts getting louder, it’s a prelude to this kind of thing,” said Sinsky of the murder.

Josh Bevelacqua, who has lived on 24th Street for the past 15 years, said that he calls 911 once a month on average, most commonly when he hears gunshots or domestic violence.

In the mid-90s, things were much worse, Bevelacqua said. He witnessed gunfights with shooters crouched between cars from his window. On one occasion, bullets cut through the walls of his apartment “like butter.” He later pulled one out of his ceiling.

Things have gotten safer over the years thanks to increased police presence, he said—an observation many neighbors shared.

Nevertheless, the possibility of retaliation and escalating violence following last night’s murder makes some neighbors nervous.

”

You can tell people are on high alert,” Bevelacqua said. “It’s scary.”

“It’s not that I feel I’m going to be a target,” said Sinsky. “But you can be an accidental victim. I don’t want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Jessie Santiago agreed that police have made the neighborhood safer but has also experienced firsthand one of its downsides—suspicion and confrontation by police of anyone who looks gang affiliated.

With a do-rag and lots of tattoos, Santiago, 46, said police often stop him on the street to ask for his name—something he attributes to looking like a gangster to police, even when he’s walking with his Shih Tzu.

Officer Joshua encouraged anyone with information to come forward.

“We do rely on what the community sees to complete these investigations,” she said.

Please call Homicide Unit Inspector Valerie Matthews at (415) 553-1145 or the anonymous tip line at (415) 431-2127 with information.

Originally published on Mission Loc@l.

They weigh 20 pounds on average, often hold thousands of dollars and three have been stolen in the last month from Mission District markets within a mile and a half of one another.

Cash registers, it turns out, are easier to lift than expected.

The most brazen of the register burglaries happened in broad daylight at Sam’s Market near Precita Park on Thursday, Aug. 20 just before 5 p.m.

“They didn’t say anything, just came in and grabbed it,” said Norma Abu, who owns the store with her husband and was working the register at the time. “I was in shock.”

Two men entered the store, Abu said. One took the easy-to-lift cash register—and the $2,000 inside—and one shadowed. Neither showed weapons. The whole incident lasted just a few seconds, leaving her too surprised to react or recall their faces.

“It’s not common to take the whole register,” said Sergeant Jim Miller of the Ingleside Police Department, which covers the area south of Cesar Chavez St. “But it’s the quickest and easiest way to take everything…and a way of avoiding an altercation with the clerk.”

The two suspects fled in an SUV as Abu’s husband chased after them, shouting license plate numbers back to her, said a neighbor who arrived on the scene shortly after police were called and who has asked not to be identified by name.

Though she had to call police more than once before an officer arrived, Abu said was happy with their response.

Police recovered the vehicle six hours later—no cash register inside—in Sebastopol, Ca., but no arrests have been made, said Inspector Alan Honniball.

The other two burglaries happened in the middle of the night, when the stores were closed. In both cases, the burglars entered by cutting the lock and breaking a window.

Rose Food Mart on Potrero Ave. and 22^nd St. was burglarized just before 2 a.m. on Aug. 7. An upstairs neighbor saw three suspects leave in a white van with a blue stripe that had been parked out front with its doors open. The police report said the witness was able to write down only part of the license plate number.

Though uncertain whether any arrests have been made, Ateyeh Ateyeh, the market’s owner, said the police who responded to the incident did a very good job.

Raymond Jada, who owns R Image Market on Folsom and 25^th Streets, was unhappy with the police response to his burglary on July 29 at 4:30 a.m. A security camera recorded the incident, he said, but police never returned to download the tape.

“Why should they?” he asked, dubious that solving the case was a high priority for police.

R Image lost $1,800 when the cash register was stolen, according to the police report.

It is unknown whether police are investigating a possible connection between these burglaries. However, most serial burglars avoid staying in one neighborhood for fear of getting caught, a foot patrol officer said.

And, though unusual, these burglaries do not suggest that theft and property crime are on the rise in the Mission.

“We have not seen an increase in burglaries,” said Sergeant Lyn Tomioka, public information officer for the San Francisco Police Department.

Since June, there have been 108 residential and commercial burglaries in the Mission District, according to police data. This number is down compared to 189 in 2006 and 218 in 2005, the most recent years posted on the police department’s web site.