Inside Edition parked a car across from Ghirardelli Square, where smash-and-grabs are often prevalent, and purposely left valuables inside. Unknown to the would-be thieves, Inside Edition hid GPS trackers inside each item.
Once known as the city by the bay, San Francisco has now become infamous to some as the smash-and-grab capital of the United States. Bandits break into car windows and steal anything left inside.
In one incident, footage captured thieves ransacking a van parked across from Ghirardelli Square. They made off with $10,000 worth of valuables from teenagers that Rabbi Zalman Notik led on a sightseeing field trip.
“We rushed to the vehicles and it was too late. All the windows were smashed open. Lots of belongings were taken out,” Notik says. “It’s really sad. It’s hard to believe the numbers and how often this takes place.”
The smash-and-grab problem has been a hot spot near Ghirardelli Square, where tourists flock for chocolate treats and stop for photos at the bay. The area reported 374 break-ins last year.
To test how bad the smash-and-grab problem is, Inside Edition parked a car across the square and purposely left a suitcase, a guitar, a Bluetooth speaker, and a Michael Kors purse inside. Unknown to the would-be thieves, Inside Edition hid GPS trackers inside every item in the car.
An hour later, two men showed up at the car and took several passes before striking. One suspect smashed the passenger window but it did not fully break. Fifteen minutes later, the other suspect on a bike reached into the car and took the purse.
Inside Edition pursued the suspect on the bike but lost GPS signal. He had ditched the purse but still had the speaker.
The next day, the GPS tracker led Inside Edition producers to a couple on the street. They had the exact speaker that was placed in the car. The man says they bought the speaker from a guy for forty dollars and had no idea it had been stolen.
Tourists visiting the city’s most iconic places like the Palace of Fine Arts, Fisherman’s Wharf and Alamo Square are often the prime targets. There are signs all over the city warning people to remove their valuables or lock them in their car trunks.
Tourists tell Inside Edition they learned their lesson the hard way. They are all victims of smash-and-grabs.
“You would expect it if you were in a bad area of town late at night,” Sam Oldiges says. “But this is early in the morning, broad daylight, lots of people around, restaurants are opening, and who would be brass enough to do that?”
Alberto Cardona says he will never go back to San Francisco.
“My family doesn't wanna go back there and it’s a shame because it’s really a beautiful city,” Cardona says.
The mayor of San Francisco tells Inside Edition new tools are being implemented to combat smash-and-grabs, including using their own bait cars and installing hundreds of new security cameras.
