Public officials in San Francisco are making an effort to reduce the number of car thefts in the city. On Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced that the city is offering cash rewards of up to $100,000 for those with information about car robberies in the area. Thus far, private donors in the service and hospitality industry have raised more than $200,000 for information that may lead to the convictions of “high-level leaders of organized auto burglary fencing operations."
While care burglaries remain a major issue in the area, there have been improvements in recent memory. In 2017, the Associated Press reports that there were upwards of 31,000 car thefts. Two years later, there were approximately 26,000 car thefts in the city. This year, San Francisco is on pace to have less than 26,000 reported car burglaries.
Moving forward, Breed and members of the police force plan to hone in on a number of groups. Police believe that a few enterprises are responsible for most of the car burglaries in the area.
“These break-ins hurt our residents, especially working families who do not have the time or money to deal with the effects, as well as visitors to our city whose experiences are too often tarnished after an otherwise positive experience," Breed said, according to the Associated Press.
As city officials and authorities work to decrease the number of car burglaries, motorists are advised to "hide belongings in car trunks and to park in staffed lots when possible."
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