Campaign kicks off in San Carlos to combat home burglaries

SAN CARLOS, Calif. (KGO) -- A campaign kicks off on the peninsula to address a big concern of residents -- burglaries. The San Mateo Sheriff's Office will be spelling out what they are doing and asking residents to do their part.

At San Carlos City Hall a town hall-style meeting will be held Wednesday night with a preview and a success story in an East Bay city.

San Carlos isn't alone facing more residential burglaries. Danville, Fremont and several other cities are too. Police say burglars are breaking out windows and glass doors, using tarps to help muffle the sound.

San Carlos homeowner John Montalbano said, "They break into houses just to take computers and stuff like that, and they're out. That's what we worry about."

John and Mary Montalbano plan to be at the meeting because they're worried about residential burglaries, including one recently near their home.

There were 43 such burglaries in town last year. Surveillance cameras are popping up -- some real and some fake. The sheriff's office, which polices the city of 29,000, has turned to installing license plate readers in some patrol vehicles.

"Some of them are undercover vehicles that have license plate readers, and what we're doing is we're using license plate information to develop patterns. Our investigators are looking at these patterns to see if certain vehicles are seen in areas where crime is higher," San Mateo County Sheriff's Detective Salvador Zuno said.

With freeway on-ramps nearby, Mary thinks more patrols on her street would help, not just in downtown San Carlos.

"Their presence is very much there, but I don't see them a lot in residential areas. I know they're up here, don't misunderstand me, I know they're doing a good job, but I think they need to be a bigger presence in the residential areas," Mary said.

Residential burglary is a regional problem, prompting creation of a joint enforcement team on the peninsula.

A year ago, the city of Fremont held meetings to show residents how to install security cameras at home and along streets in their subdivisions. There are 390 cameras registered with police, up from 300 in a year. Police report the residential burglary rate has fallen nine percent in a year. New, larger camera warning signs will be rolling out soon.