San Francisco police use real-time tech to arrest burglary suspects
A stolen plate, an ALPR alert and a real-time police response led officers from Stonestown Mall to El Cerrito Plaza, where they seized six catalytic converters.
A break-in at Stonestown Mall turned into a Bay Area-wide police chase after San Francisco officers used real-time surveillance tools to track a suspect vehicle with a stolen license plate and follow it from San Francisco to El Cerrito.
The San Francisco Police Department said officers responded around 10 a.m. on May 7 to an auto burglary at the mall, where suspects were seen breaking into a vehicle and stealing items. With help from the department’s Real Time Investigation Center and Automated License Plate Reader technology, the SFPD Citywide Plainclothes team began tracking the vehicle across the region. Investigators quickly learned the plate on the car had been reported stolen.
That lead widened when the Berkeley Police Department helped connect a possible associate, 39-year-old Calvin Fries of Bay Point, to catalytic converter thefts, auto burglaries and fraud. Police said the suspects later switched the vehicle’s plate, triggering another ALPR alert near El Cerrito. Plainclothes officers then moved in at El Cerrito Plaza and took Fries and 34-year-old Wyatt Zapien of Brentwood into custody without incident.
Officers recovered stolen property from the auto burglary, burglary tools and six stolen catalytic converters from the vehicle. Fries and Zapien were booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of second-degree burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy. Zapien was also booked on three out-of-county warrants. The police department said its Burglary Unit later connected Fries to one additional catalytic converter incident and Zapien to two more catalytic converter thefts, along with a felony evasion case. The investigation remained open and active.
The arrests land in a city where catalytic converter theft has remained a recurring complaint. In a separate case, San Francisco investigators said multiple theft reports over several months pointed to the same white four-door sedan. That investigation ended with the Jan. 29 arrest of 19-year-old Deric Gonzalez-Rodriguez on multiple felony grand theft counts.
SFPD has urged vehicle owners to engrave catalytic converters with VIN or plate numbers, use anti-theft devices, park in garages or well-lit areas and report saw-like or grinding noises immediately. The department also warned residents not to chase or confront suspects because they may be armed. For San Franciscans weighing the promise of real-time surveillance, the central question remains whether these tools are reducing repeat victimization, or mainly helping police close the loop after the thefts have already happened.
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