SF reinstates security at several parking garages amid high volume of car break-ins

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The city of San Francisco added security services back to several of its high-volume parking garages following an ABC7 I-Team investigation.

According to SFMTA, security is back in San Francisco's Union Square, Sutter Stockton, and 5th and Mission parking garages.

"They've added 40 hours of security per week at several locations," said Delphine Skreen, the Director of Compliance for Marina Security Services.

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ABC7 first reported back in May, the city cut the company's services at half of the high-volume parking garages across San Francisco.

While adding back some staff at these locations helped, Skreen says it's not enough. Car break-ins continue to happen.

"We had 13 vehicles that were broken into at one of the local garages...all in one night," said Skreen. "It's just very out of hand."

SFPD report there have been 7,716 auto burglaries reported so far this year. 805 of those burglaries were reported in just the past two weeks.

RELATED: Security cut at half the major parking garages in SF amid uptick in car break-ins

Rodney Fong, the President and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce says he's concerned about the impact to tourism.

"There's an unacceptable level of crime in San Francisco right now," said Fong. "We want to create a safe place for our residents and visitors."

After our reporting in May and June, Fong sent a letter to SFMTA Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin requesting more action be taken citing "it sends the wrong message to businesses and the public when security is put on the chopping block."

Fong told ABC7 Tumlin assured him they are staffing up and allocating enough cameras and personnel at each garage.

SFMTA responded with a letter citing the agency has dedicated $35 million to upgrade technology in every city-owned parking garage - which included adding 300 high-definition cameras among other onsite equipment upgrades. The agency says the garages have reached 60 percent capacity compared to pre-pandemic levels and report vehicle break-ins have "remained stable."

"13 in a day is not stable," said Skreen. "That's a ridiculously high amount."

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Fong hopes the city would allot additional funding so security would be present in every garage - adding that we all need to stay alert as the city continues reopening.

"We live in a city with a $13 billion budget," said Fong. "We should be able to overcome these problems."