Victim stunned by OPD's lack of response to smash-and-grab robbery

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Catching criminals in the act, even when it's captured on video, doesn't guarantee police will respond and that's what one Oakland woman recently discovered.

A smash-and-grab of a car in an Oakland parking lot hardly seems like a crime that's worth reporting because it's so common.

Surveillance video recently captured a smash-and-grab of a car parked on the 1000 block of Cotton Street.

When Maricela Foster returned to her car she found smashed glass from her car window on the ground in the parking lot of the Buttercup Restaurant.

"Well when I walked back to my car, I saw glass shattered. I was just in a little shock," Foster said.

She lost $800 worth of cellphones from a bag in the car. Her car was surrounded by warning signs and security cameras.

Her coworker Lawrence Brooks asked the restaurant for video. The footage showed the thief in a white stocking cap shielding himself behind an SUV while breaking into Foster's car

One day later, after filing her smash-and-grab report with police she hadn't heard anything from law enforcement.

"I am a little surprised I haven't heard anything. I am not surprised they did not come out," Foster said.

The Oakland Police Department was busy Monday with a fatal shooting on 35th Avenue at about the same time.

No excuse, the department said.

"If we are responding to a crime against person, that will always take priority over a property crime," Johnna Watson, spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department said. "If you have been a victim of a property crime we need you to report it. It we can go and collect video evidence where we can put it together and identify and make an arrest, we will certainly do it."

The good news is that later in the day, a Good Samaritan found Foster's bag on the street and returned it with yesterday's snacks still inside.