February 11, 2005

Crime awareness meeting Feb. 16

Rash of burglaries mobilizes Evergreen Hills community

By Bea Baechle
Editor

In response to a number of constituent calls about burglaries hitting the Evergreen Hills area, District 8 Councilmember Dave Cortese invited the San Jose Police Department to that area for an open community meeting.
Captain Diane Urban of the Foothill Division will present an analysis of crime in the area to heighten crime awareness and to answer questions on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. at Evergreen Elementary School, 3010 Fowler Road.

“We’ll just go over all the ways to make a neighborhood safer from this point on,” said Cortese. “It will be helpful for the San Jose PD to start hearing trends—not so much the type of crime, but when it’s occurring, because when people say something is happening in these kind of circumstances at these times, it really helps them focus on a pattern and better deploy their resources.”

Cortese noted that last year, for example, when Evergreen residents complained of organized racing on Yerba Buena Road, the police department started deploying officers to that area from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. every Saturday night to curtail the activity.

Burglars getting bolder every day
An Evergreen resident who wishes to remain anonymous e-mailed the Times noting, “Yesterday my house had a break-in during the day, with my father-in-law napping in the backyard. They broke in through the front window by removing the screen and opening the closed but unlatched window.

“They were probably spooked when they noticed his presence and cut their visit short, but they had already pilfered the upstairs master bedroom,” continued the e-mail. “It caused a lot of pain and anguish. And to know that they coolly walked out the front door was just too much.”

The resident noted that the police department is investigating the matter and hopefully will recover the stolen items. “I had been noting the e-mails about theft, but it just seemed that we were somehow safe—the classic “it couldn’t-happen-to-me syndrome.”

Much more drastic cases have also been reported to the District 8 office. One Evergreen family returned from a month-long visit abroad to find their home completely cleaned out of their valuables. The thieves, posing as house sitters, even sold their cars!

Dealing with mail fraud
Toward the end of December and throughout January, other parts of Evergreen Hills reported incidents of mail fraud. The thieves stole credit card bills to make fraudulent charges or even whited-out names of check recipients and cashed the checks in their own personal checking accounts.

The San Jose Crime Prevention Unit will be speaking about “Neighborhood Watch” in a privately scheduled meeting for this community. If you would like to schedule a similar meeting for your neighborhood association, contact the Crime Prevention Unit at (408) 277-4133.

In the meantime, follow these steps to protect your mail:
- Use the letter slots at your post office to mail letters, or give them to a letter carrier.

-Pick up your mailpromptly after delivery. Don’t leave it in your mailbox overnight.

- Don’t send cash in themail.

-Ask your bank for “secure” checks that can’t be altered.

-Tell your post office when you’ll be out of town, so they can hold your mail until you return.

- Report all mail theft to a postal inspector. Contact the Postal Inspection Service office that serves the Evergreen Hills area can at Postal Inspection Service, P.O. Box 882528, San Francisco, CA 94188-2528. (Phone): 415-778-5800, (Fax): 415-778-5822.

To locate your nearest Postal Inspector, go to http://www.usps.com/ncsc/locators/find-is.html or call 1-800-ASK-USPS.