Residents here in this South San Leandro neighborhood tell us there has been a rash of these burglaries, many of them during daylight hours. Police hope releasing a high-quality video might help.
"Basically we're thinking these two, we're thinking teenagers, one might be in his early 20's, walk up the porch," Lt. Randy Brandt said.
It started with a simple trip to the front door at a home on Laverne Drive in San Leandro. Two young men ring the bell and wait for a couple minutes. It's just before nine in the morning.
"They look a little nervous as you can see, waiting to see if anyone shows up at the door," Lt. Brandt said. "This is pretty common everywhere throughout the Bay Area right now."
When no one answers, the home surveillance video shows the two jumping a fence to a side yard. They pry off a window screen, jump through it, and leave less than two minutes later, while stuffing jewelry and other valuables into their pants.
Neighbor Joanne Moore says it's happened all too often lately.
"It seems like either daylight or at night after everybody's gone to bed," she said. "They'll go up ring the doorbell, listen, wait, a kid will go back and get in a car, and then they'll go back through the back yard."
San Leandro police hope the public recognizes these two suspects like they did back in February, in another burglary case. Soon after that video aired on ABC7 News, police received several tips that led to an arrest.
It's common for would-be burglars to ring the doorbell first.
"The key is not to answer the door, to keep the door locked, tell them you're calling the police," Lt. Brandt said. "Tell them you're there or at least acknowledge, because if they think the house is vacant, by you staying quiet in the back of the house thinking that's the right thing, potentially they could break a door or break a window and then the next thing you know they're in the house with you."
Anyone with info about burglary suspects can contact the San Leandro Police Department at (510) 577-2740. For information on how to submit a confidential tip to police, click here. Anonymous tips can also be submitted online here.
