Residents at some apartment buildings in San Francisco are concerned as call boxes have been vandalized in what appears to be an attempt to get inside.
A number of apartment call boxes on Scott Street in San Francisco’s Marina District are out of service. A property owner says some of them were vandalized with water in what appears to be an attempt to get inside.
Shawn, a tenant, said he moved to the area six months ago and never expected to have to worry about something like this.
“We have quite a bit of packages so a little concerned if someone was tampering with it to break in,” Shawn said.
On Monday, his property owner sent tenants a warning, saying the building’s call box was out of service after someone sprayed water inside, apparently trying to get through the door and steal packages.
The notice also said similar vandalism had been reported around the city.
Valerie lives nearby and says her surveillance camera captured a man moments before he damaged a call box with water in an apparent attempt to get inside over the weekend.
SFPD confirmed a burglary was reported in the same area on Monday, at a residence where the call box had been vandalized over the weekend.
Warman Security President Peter Badertscher says this isn’t new.
“If the water gets in there correctly, it completes the circuit, opens the release and voilà. Bad guys in,” he said.
Badertscher says his company has been dealing with this tactic for about two years and is now repairing dozens of water-damaged call boxes in San Francisco every month.
He says the trick doesn’t work most of the time, but when it does, the damage can be expensive.
“It’s unfortunate somebody figures out a way to circumvent the system and that bad person tells 12 more bad people and they give it a go,” Badertscher said.
San Francisco police say they’re not seeing an uptick in these types of incidents citywide. In the most recent case over the weekend, no arrests have been made.
For now, residents say they’re keeping a closer eye on their building entrances.