Car break-ins in San Francisco drop by nearly 60% compared to last year, data shows

San Francisco police say they're making real progress when it comes to preventing one of the biggest issues in the city. 

New crime data shows auto break-ins have fallen by more than half compared to last year.

“We have a 58% drop in auto burglaries,” San Francisco Police Department Officer Robert Ruecca said.  

He said that's happening because the department now has a few new tools to help.

License plate reading cameras can tell police when a suspect vehicle is in a particular neighborhood. New drones can get video of alleged crimes happening, and officers can safely pursue and arrest without chasing them.

Investigators have long suspected that most car burglaries in San Francisco are done by organized groups and repeat offenders that target several cars in a day.

Now that police are making more arrests, that suspicion seems to be proving true.  

"A lot of these individuals that we're arresting have committed similar crimes, have committed crimes while they're still out on bail,” Ruecca said. 

In a case earlier this month, police managed to track a teen spotted burglarizing an SUV at the Palace of Fine Arts.

They tailed him all the way to Oakland where they saw him load items into a second car driven by San Francisco resident, 27-year-old Robert Sonza.

She had just been released from jail last month on an auto burglary conviction.

Both the teen and Sonza were arrested, and investigators say Sonza had a gun on him.

Police said it’s one of several examples that their efforts at stopping car burglaries are working -- and some residents are noticing the difference.

"I certainly feel safer parking. You know, we take normal precautions, we don't leave valuable things in the car. I don't think you do that in any city,” Lauren Ellis, San Francisco resident and business owner, said. “But we certainly feel a little more at ease when I'm parking on the street."

In some hot spot neighborhoods, where police have focused their operations, the drop in car burglaries has been by as much as nearly 70%.

But there is one San Francisco neighborhood that's an odd exception.

"Car break-ins, window break-ins, ascending to me, especially car break-ins,” Noe Valley resident Patricia Larizadeh said.

She said they seem to be focused on the 24th Street business corridor of the neighborhood.

According to crime data, that area has seen a 15% rise when compared to last year.

Larizadeh said police should focus their efforts there too.