The San Marino City Council, at the behest of Police Chief John Incontro, approved the dispersal of extra overtime hours for two officers and the hiring of two part-time cadets to battle a 67% increase in burglaries and attempted burglaries.
“Since January, the city has had 41 residential burglaries and 9 commercial burglaries,” said Incontro. “This was a 67% increase this year over the same time period last year.”
The officers will work as a team twice a week and focus on specific challenges based on the time and day of the week and they will provide an extra 192 patrol hours over the next six months, Incontro said in a statement.
The cadets will help out at SMPD headquarters and will be trained to create reports at the desk and in the field and handle house checks. Incontro recently told The Tribune that the amount of paperwork required from a police officer for even minor incident reports has increased greatly over the years. The new cadets will bump the total number to six and allow more freedom for officers.
Incontro said that all size cadets will be trained to write reports for lesser incidents and their duties will be spread out during the work day.
“If we have, for example, a lost passport, it currently takes an officer one hour to write that report,” Incontro said. “With our cadets able to handle the report, we get an extra hour out of an officer.”
The city has earmarked more than $71,000 for these two expenditures.
The city will also, at a cost of $2,800, purchase and install 75 signs touting San Marino’s Neighborhood Watch program. The SMPD has identified 66 points of entry into the city and a sign will be posted at each, including a message indicating the city’s 24-hour surveillance procedure. The city has also recently purchased three camera systems that can me moved throughout the city. The additional nine signs will be used in case signs are damaged or in need of replacement.
Incontro said that the city would evaluate the measures at the end of a three-month period “to determine the effectiveness of each recommendation in the reduction of burglaries in the City.”
Incontro made the recommendations at the Wednesday, July 12 meeting of the San Marino City Council, which were unanimously approved.
Incontro also included a series of recommendations to help reduce crime, including locking and securing your home and car, using or installing a security system, using the SMPD’s House Check service, installing motion sensor lighting, trimming foliage near the home,
Make your home look inhabited, considering a large dog as a family pet and joining the city’s Neighborhood Watch program.
Incontro also touted the San Marino Police and Fire Departments’ ‘National Night Out,’ which will be held in Lacy Park on Tuesday, August 1 from 4-9 p.m.
“We will have safety information for the community and activities for the whole family,” said Incontro, mentioning that there will be a train and movie available for children. The event is free and open to the public.
By Mitch Lehman
The city council also last week directed staff to continue negotiations with Verizon Wireless and work with the San Marino Unified School District to find an alternate site for a cell tower that is located in a common area near the campuses of Valentine Elementary and Huntington Middle Schools.
The city had offered the rear lot of San Marino City Hall as a possible relocation site for the cell tower, but residents of Roanoke Rd. fought the plan. Verizon was considering the construction of another full-sized cell tower, known as a monopole, at city hall to fill a coverage gap along Huntington Dr.
The city is now negotiating for either smaller sized cell towers or antennas to substitute for a monopole. There are currently nine smaller cell towers in use within city limits. The smaller cell towers are typically attached to existing utility poles and have less transmission power.
“Nobody wants a monopole,” Interim City Manager Cindy Collins told The Tribune. “That is becoming very apparent. It doesn’t matter where we go, we will receive a great deal of resistance if we try to install a monopole. Let’s continue with a smaller cell tower or antennas. That is what seems to be working.”
Verizon has agreed to move the unpermitted monopole off school property under the condition that an alternative site can be secured that allows for consistent cell phone reception throughout the city. The city offered its property in an effort to hasten the process until neighbors came forward and voiced their opposition.
Collins also said that the city and school district will reconvene meetings “after August 1” due to vacation schedules.
“The school district has eviction leverage to get Verizon off the property,” said Collins. “We are trying to work with them in a cooperative manner.”
SMPD Ups Overtime In An Effort to Battle Rise In Burglaries
