Bipping is the criminal act of smashing the vehicle window of an unsuspecting victim to steal whatever is left on the seat, whether valuable or not.

Standing outside the bike rental shop my mechanic Brian, drinking an Irish coffee curtsy The Buena Vista, right down the street. “There he goes.” Pointing his chin to the dark colored car with a terrible tint job that failed to obscure the lone driver in a ski mask driving up and down beach street. “How much you wanna bet he’s already hit one today?”

Standing there with my hand on my hips confused “what are you talking about?”

“They’re bipping cars man.”

Standing watched as the same car made a second drive up and down beach street before we just didn’t see him again. As hr turned to make his back into the shop, “Probably got a good one and left.”

Confused again but trying to positive I responded “Maybe he got caught.” Brian just turned to me and shook his head and walked back into the store to repair the broken bikes.

Vehicle break ins and crime have been on the rise here in San Francisco. From the complaints of the few local’s I’ve spoken to, ever since the pandemic crime has just gotten a lot worst in the city. Many localize it to the downtown area, while others believe it all over.

After the conversation with Brian, I continued putting away the bikes for the evening before overhearing the conversation of a family walking down the street. “There’s another one, this is car number three.” I looked over my shoulder in the direction of their fingers and I couldn’t believe it. The rear driver side window of an suv was smashed. The glass was all over the street and then the owner appeared. A woman with two kids. I watched has she noticed the window, and held out her arm stopping the kids from approaching the vehicle. She opened back door and took a look around before stepping back to make a call I presume to the cops.

Only able to catch the occasional glimpses of her on the phone, she got frustrated, hung up, packed her kids into the car and drove off quickly. A sight I never thought I’d see here in California.

Sitting in the backseat of my uber driving down the Hyde street. There area signs along the road. Posted by residents in the neighborhood, which sits right along a popular tourist destination, warning of smash and grabs vehicle break ins, around the area.

Later that night as I read through my twitter the more it became clear, these car break ins are prevalent in the area of down town San Francisco and unsuspecting tourist destinations.

People like Eli Steele, a filmmaker who was visiting San Francisco with his father. They left the car for as little as ten minutes, only to come back to the window of their rental smashed and thousands of dollars in camera equipment stolen by local criminals. Posting in a tweet.

A tweet that prompted current Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s own comment about the companies employees too, falling victim to the trend of car break ins.

The current trend being the lack of support received from law enforcement.

Except it isn’t the fault of San Francisco Law Enforcement, but the laws in the bay area/California that the police are upholding. Laws which include their inability to touch assailants, without the possibility of assault charges, which affects both law enforcement and other private security in the city, making it more difficult to take suspects into custody.

After having my own few interactions with SFPD, it’s not that they aren’t doing jobs but the laws in place that are preventing them from being thoroughly able to do their jobs.

So you may be wondering, where are the safest places to park to San Francisco?

Well as always, Parking Garages.

If the cost of parking garages are too expensive or the distance is too great, it’s best to park away from popular tourist destination. Be sure to look around the area before parking. if there are frequent break ins in the area, many residents will put up notices or signs warning to would be victims.

It’s best to leave nothing behind in the vehicle as criminals have no problem grabbing anything left on the seat, despite value.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a vehicle break in tracker on their sight for locals to check out. https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/

- Tyler Letren