Lock your car, hide your phone, part 2: my ridealong

I wrote a while back about rumors of thefts from cars in Montara. A couple of weeks ago, my next-door neighbor’s cheap stereo was stolen from his car.  I talked to the Sheriff’s deputy that answered the call.

That break-in coincided with a ridealong I took with deputy Eric Sakuma on the midcoast. John Quinlan set this up just before he left the coastside. It wasn’t very exciting, but really instructive.  Seen from the patrol car, the midcoast looks different. People notice you and often wave. You also realize that the midcoast, once you eliminate Half Moon Bay, isn’t all that big.

Every time I talk to folks at the Sheriff’s office, they tell me that there’s no wave of break-ins in the residential areas. That usually happens in the beach parking lots, and it’s usually the same guys every time. The more time you spend with our deputies, the more you realize how in touch they are with the community and its people. They have relationships with the people who are placing most of the calls and the people who are the reason for the calls.

The biggest effect of the time I spent with deputy Sakuma, was that I feel a lot safer. I have an offer to take a ridealong on the southcoast, but I’ve been warned that unless I go on the weekend, when the motorized scofflaws from the other side of the hill come to visit, I shouldn’t expect to see any action.