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Mountain View police detectives are investigating a smash-and-grab spree outside of the Century Cinema 16 movie theaters Friday, with an early tally showing 19 vehicles had been burglarized sometime during the afternoon or early evening hours.
Officers were initially called to investigate reports of an auto burglary around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 in the parking lot northwest of the theaters, and met with other people in the area who suffered a similar experience, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. In 18 of the 19 cases, the suspect or suspects had smashed a window and looted the vehicle.
Among the belongings reportedly stolen are cellphones, computers, clothing and personal documentation, Nelson said. Bags belonging to the victims had been strewn about the parking lot, which officers collected during the investigation.
“If the (victims) recognized the bags they were returned to them, but whatever was in the bags was taken, more often than not,” she said.
The windows were spared in only one of the 19 cases because the movie attendee appeared to have left the doors unlocked. In that case, the suspect allegedly got into the vehicle and took the phones inside, Nelson said. In six cases, the windows of the vehicle were smashed but nothing was reportedly taken.
Finalized police reports on all 19 burglaries are still pending, and it’s possible more cars were burglarized in the parking lot, Nelson said. She encouraged people who believe their vehicles were burglarized during the Friday incident to file a report. Details were unclear, as of Monday morning, whether the thefts occurred primarily in the movie theater parking lot or the adjacent lot on the 1400 block of Plymouth Street.
While police are seeking information on the suspect, they don’t have much to work with at the moment. There are no witnesses, no surveillance footage and no suspect descriptions available. More likely than not, this was a case where the suspect or suspects used a vehicle to drive around and hit numerous vehicles before leaving the area, Nelson said.
The burglary spree is the latest in a trend showing suspects are targeting vehicles in the Century Cinema 16 parking lots. Data provided to the Voice by the Mountain View Police Department shows that auto burglaries in the theater lots have more than doubled from last year, with a total of 77 reported thefts as of Nov. 13. By comparison, the department received 36 reports of auto burglaries in the same location in 2017, and 20 reports in 2016.
The latest data shows that the movie theater parking lot is now home to the highest volume of auto burglaries in the city, accounting for nearly 16 percent of the city’s total auto burglary cases. In prior years, the In-N-Out burger parking lot on North Rengstorff Avenue held the infamous title for having the most car burglaries, with about a fourth of all the cases occurring in the tiny fast-food lot in 2017.
Despite the high concentration of theft incidents, police data indicates the total number of auto burglaries across the city is roughly the same as it was in 2017.
Residents are urged not to leave valuable belongings unattended in vehicles, particularly if they are in plain sight, and are encouraged to lock car doors and windows and park in well-lit areas. Expensive items can be stored in the trunk ahead of time or carried out with the driver, but in some cases it’s better just to drive back home and drop them off instead.
“Don’t leave stuff in your cars,” Nelson said. “If you can’t take it with you, maybe go home first and then come back for the movies.”
It seems too common that this happens at this movie theater, because it is so close to the freeway, makes for an easy getaway.
The theater should do better in securing their property. The parking lot is very dark, and with the few light post that they have, those parking spots seem to fill up fast.
After nearly 5 years, I went to the movies a few weeks ago and was surprised to see the parking area looked so deserted. The theater should hire security, just like they did when there was a stabbing that happened there many years ago.
So I go there every weekend. I’m a movie buff. They do have security. I talked to them. Leaving your doors unlocked is dumb. SMH. But I haven’t seen anything weird with my car after a movie.
Lots of comments on nextdoor. I called the theater to confirm that this actually happened, the guy I spoke to said it was six cars. Apparently fake news.
This is a problem all over mountain view. The fact that there is no video surveillance on parking lots in Silicon Valley is a joke! Tech Workers backpacks are filled with high end electronics devices that they take with them after work to dinner, movies etc.
It’s all about prevention. If you don’t have anything worth stealing or breaking then you won’t be a target. These people are looking for valuables and quick wins. As long as security and surveillance are not adequate the only other options are to a) not go to the theatres, or b) leave your window down or car unlocked without any valuables.
I used to live in a poor area that had a lot of break-ins and I just accepted that someone was going to be looking at my car as a target and break my window to find out if there was anything in my car worth stealing. My neighbors would regularly get their cars broken into but not me. I left my window down or car unlocked with my glove box and coin tray open and I never once got my windows broken into or anything stolen.
I realize that this is a very sad state for us to be in as a community, but its the only practical way to deal with these kinds of situations outside of increasing our social morals and helping people find more ethical ways to make money.
It’s sad but practical.
I’m sad that this is still happening. Our car was broken into on Tuesday, Sep 18 while we were at the movies.
Back then, our car was parked directly under one of the bright lights – so that doesn’t seem to help at all. The thieves stole my backpack from the rear seats. The car parked opposite to ours was broken into as well. It was also directly under the light post. In total, 3 cars were broken into that night. MVPD came very quickly to the scene and told us that the thieves are professionals e.g. they don’t smash the glass but crack it rather slowly to minimize the noise.
I’m thinking the new movie theater at San Antonio Village is probably a better option because it is more complicated for thieves to quickly exit a multi-story parking structure ( most likely with cameras) and escape in that area then it is at Cinema 16 which is right by the highway.
@Theater downplaying this: before you label something as fake news, you might think about who has the motivation to lie. Does the police spokesperson gain by INFLATING the number of victims or does the theater gain by DEFLATING the number of victims? The answer seems obvious to me.
No, the theater downplays it. They have mighty reason to. why there aren’t lights, security cameras- even portable ones like at Walmart or officers (though you’d need a lot) is completely beyond me as these thugs will break and enter even if they only get a hit 1/10 of the time.
95% of the theater traffic enters and leaves on Shoreline. First step is to setup cameras at that once entrance, get photos of license plates, car make / model, and driver / passengers. Then when a theft incident occurs, go back and see what vehicles were in the lot at the time of the theft. Pay close attention to vehicles that entered the lot < 30 minutes before the theft and left the lot < 30 minutes after the theft. There will be no more than a handful of cars that stayed in the lot for < 1 hour, almost everyone parks and watches a movie for ~2 hours. Once you have a handful of suspect cars, it won’t be hard to find the culprit.
The problem is that the theater isn’t willing to lift a single finger to protect their patrons. They are negligent and refuse to do basic investigation like I described above. They will be out of business before too long because they have no respect for their customers.
“The thieves stole my backpack from the rear seats.”
With a mindset like this it’s no reason these thieves target this area.
My car was smash-n-grabbed in Cupertino in August. There was nothing left out on the seats, the perpetrators smashed the rear windows and got into the trunk by lowering the rear seat back. They stole an old mexican blanket and an earthquake emergency kit. Cost me $500 to fix the two windows. Cupertino police told me it was most likely a gang coming down from the Oakland area. They make the trip down and hit several parking lots while they’re here. The police said they had gotten into a shootout earlier this summer with a smash-n-grab crew.
I don’t see this stopping anytime soon. I imagine the people doing this feel justified on the basis of economic justice, as a form of either reparatory or redistributive activism.
“I imagine the people doing this feel justified on the basis of economic justice, as a form of either reparatory or redistributive activism.”
I dont care how you slice it, there is no “justification”, economic or otherwise, to violate another persons property and STEAL from them…period. Those thieves have NO idea who they are STEALING from. NONE. If their idea is “reparatory or redistributive activism” as they smash windows and steal from vehcile after vechile after vehicle in an unpatrolled theater parking lot – I’d call that simply preying on easy targets, with little/no thought of “who” they are stealing from…it’s just ease of ability to commit the crime.
Criminal thugs.
In my lifetime my family home has been burgled three different times over the span of twenty some odd years. I was assaulted on the street as a youth, and held up at gunpoint while working at my job. I feel absoluetly ZERO empathy for any of those perpetrators. ZERO. None of the people who commtted those crimes had any “right” to violate MY RIGHTS to feel safe, happy and protect my (or my employers) property.
These smash and grab theives are flat out criminals. And, it’s ridiculous that we no longer feel that our vehicles are safe if we go to the movies in Mountain View…regardless of whether or not we actually have anything of remote “value” in our vehicles.
CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION – CONS
ARTICLE I DECLARATION OF RIGHTS [SECTION 1 – SEC. 32] ( Article 1 adopted 1879. )
SECTION 1. All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.
(Sec. 1 added Nov. 5, 1974, by Proposition 7. Resolution Chapter 90, 1974.)
…snip…
SEC. 28. (a) The People of the State of California find and declare all of the following:
(1) Criminal activity has a serious impact on the citizens of California. The rights of victims of crime and their families in criminal prosecutions are a subject of grave statewide concern.
…snip…
(13) To restitution.
(A) It is the unequivocal intention of the People of the State of California that all persons who suffer losses as a result of criminal activity shall have the right to seek and secure restitution from the persons convicted of the crimes causing the losses they suffer.
(B) Restitution shall be ordered from the convicted wrongdoer in every case, regardless of the sentence or disposition imposed, in which a crime victim suffers a loss.
…more…
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CONS&division=&title=&part=&chapter=&article=I
Yes, “economic justice” is not an excuse and frankly makes no sense at all. The real global economic elites do not drive to movie theaters, they build their own private movie theaters in their houses. Destroying property and stealing from theater-goers is wrecking the lives of people slightly better off than you. It’s a “crabs in the pot” situation. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
DEFLATING the number of victims, that’s what I meant by fake news. What’s unit for police to inflate #.
I am surprised at the responses to the increased car break-ins at Cinema 16. Half blame the victims and the rest blame the theatre. Yes, some of the victims were irresponsible in leaving items visible. But many had nothing showing and were broken into anyway. And yes the theatre could have greater security and cameras, but that won’t necessarily stop the breakins, as both can be avoided or worked around. And even if greater security is successful, the crooks will just move to another target. The cinema has been a target for a few months now and it makes more sense to me to have the police be undercover for a few weekends and make some arrests until the word gets out Mountain View is not an easy target. The theatre has few road exits making it easy to block escapes. And perhaps a spotter on the building’s roof would make it easy to survey the lot. So one spotter and a nearby patrol car would do the job with limited resources. Maybe this approach isn’t feasible, but I am sure the police can come up with something. But if we dont catch and prosecute people, the problem is just going to move around the neighborhood and increase.
MVPD doesn’t have the resources to have an officer 24/7 at every parking lot in the city. The theater needs to take responsibility for securing their own property, that means making at least minimal effort to keep these thieves away. All it takes is a minimal effort and they will be gone, but the theater does nothing year after year, incident after incident.
There is good reason why this particular parking lot as well as In N Out and the MacDonalds near Costco make easy targets, it is the freeway access.
Wise to always put valuables out of sight and not to put them out of sight after you have parked. If you decide to do that then change parking spots.
As for not locking cars, I’m wondering if EVs like Teslas can actually be left unlocked? Normally they lock automatically as the owner with the key fob or phone walks away.
JR, Of course the police do not have resources to guard each lot 24×7. However, they can provide “sting” operations on frequent targets at likely times for an incident. This is no different than posting officers at locations where there are frequent red light or speeding violations, or DUI checkpoints, etc. The result is fewer violations. Yes, the theatre can do more. But the criminals will move to another parking lot and every business will need security forces (which leads to other issues of their training and responsibilities). At some point, we need to apprehend and make crime costly for criminals. It isn’t clear they only burglarize cars either.
I was told by police that the increase in petty crine is a direct result of voters passing eliminating prison timeseqpA for petty crimes.
I was once told by a cop that Richard Nixon was the only hope for our country.
The theater knows this is a problem because they have signs posted telling you not to leave valuables. So why don’t they install cameras and hire security to patrol the parking lots? That would solve the problem. As for locking your car, seems it would be better to leave it unlocked since they’re smashing all the windows. If they’re going to steal or attempt to do so I’d at least like to not have to replace my windows and clean up the mess.
@ Tommy zg – how on earth could security miss the break-in of 19 cars?? I think they need to hire a new company.