Safety guards minimize from some city-run parking garages in San Francisco

San Francisco transit officers are cutting security services in some urban parking garages, which are only 40% of pre-pandemic usage, and are seeing a decrease in car break-ins.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency owns 38 off-street parking garages, most of which were closed or only open to monthly users during most of the pandemic. Now that the rooms are mostly empty and few car break-ins have occurred, the agency has canceled a contract for security services in several of the busiest garages. Instead, the agency will hire existing employees to roam the garages, Erica Kato, an agency spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
The agency, which takes care of everything to do with transportation in San Francisco, has replaced parking systems in its garages and installed alarms, intercoms, loudspeakers for public speeches, video cameras and payment systems. At these locations, the cashier’s windows have been removed and the staff has been used for customer service. This includes roaming the garages and looking for people who might be dipping or breaking into cars.
“We still have that personal presence, that visual deterrent,” she said. “Much of security, however, depends on new technology,” including more than 300 video cameras and 24/7 surveillance.
Workers who discover a break-in or a suspicious person are instructed to call the San Francisco Police Department – and not intervene. Monitors can go into the public address system and try to deter potential criminals and are also instructed to call the police.
SFMTA data shows that the pandemic slowed vehicle break-ins into the city’s parking garages last year as many of the garages closed along with many retail stores and employers. However, records show that vehicle break-ins in garages had already decreased sharply before the pandemic. They fell from a high of 207 in April 2017 to 39 in April 2019.
Automatic break-ins at all locations across the city fell in 2020, and the trend continues this year, according to the San Francisco Criminal Investigation Department.
“We have had all-time lows, or at least lows, for the past four years,” said Kato
Despite these trends, and with the state expected to fully reopen on June 1, the SFMTA monitors garage and vehicle break-in rates daily and weekly, and may add more security guards with a day’s notice, she said.
Michael Cabanatuan is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan