Photographers lose gear in brazen smash & grab robbery

This robbery took only a few seconds. Photographers lost their gear and a drone.

https://www.nbcbayarea​.com …-robbery-on-i-80/2461248/

Maybe someone they know, who recognized the car and so knew there was something to steal?
Alternately, the thieves saw them using the gear and followed them.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19192120
Maybe someone they know, who recognized the car and so knew there was something to steal?
Alternately, the thieves saw them using the gear and followed them.

The photographer and his wife are real estate photographers. They were shooting jobs in SF, with clear use of the drone and their dSLRs. They speculated that they were seen using this equipment, and the theives started to follow them thru SF, seeking the right opportunity to smash and grab the equipment they witnessed being put into the back where it could readily be stolen by breaking the rear window glass. A PLANNED theft!

All of a sudden the fact that my current car is NOT a hatchback seems like a plus instead of a minus..

Man that sucks. Wow, that's just so brazen.

Where I work, they ask that we rent cars with trunks unless we have a need otherwise, so thieves have a harder time seeing or getting to the stuff. This was after I had to move a mass spectrometer between customers and so I needed an SUV. Someone near San Francisco smashed a window and grabbed my carry-on bag, but they left my suitcase with tools, and backpack with my camera & laptop. They got my chargers, clothes, and toiletry kit
It wasn't as brazen as that video, since it was at a restroom stop.

A report from the SFPD comparing crime stats from November 2019 to November 2020 shows a staggering 42% jump in burglaries citywide — and this includes the well documented trend in garage break-ins — and 34% uptick in car thefts.
Amazingly Car break-ins are down 42% overall...why would a thief break into a car if they can just steal the whole thing, or rob a house instead? In 2019, car break-ins were at the rate of 32 per DAY. Car break-ins hit a historic high of 31,122 in 2017...one break-in every 2.77 seconds! Why the drop in 2020?...tourists have largely disappeared, and with them the easy targets for burglars.

My own tactic, when travelling in rental car in any city is NEVER park and put things into the trunk, then walk away!
Always stop briefly a few blocks from your destination, put things in the trunk there (and take out things you will carry with you), then drive to your real destination, park and take everything visible with you when you leave the car. After all, even dirty diaper bags HAVE been stolen in smash-and-grab-and-drive-away break-ins! Trunk locks are surprisingly easy to defeat in many cars.

The OP incident shows how the nature of crimes has escalated due to economic downturn resulting from COVID. In additon to such planned smash and grabs, folks have been assaulted at gunpoint on their front porch, and forced into their homes to be methodically robbed....all while being filmed by the security camera on the porch.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19192120
Maybe someone they know, who recognized the car and so knew there was something to steal?
Alternately, the thieves saw them using the gear and followed them.

That was my thought as well. I 1st saw the video when Chelsea Northrup posted it on Instagram. Hopefully their license will get them caught.

Why I am careful:

When I shoot, I use a SUV

When in the wild and I am at the hatch setting things up, and I hear another car approaching I always close the hatch so the passer-bys cannot peer in and see the equipment.

When I walk away from the car to shoot, I always lock it (of course) and I pull that tarp thingie on a roller over the equipment in the back. The philosophy here being if a scumbag looks into the car when I am away from it, they cannot see the equipment. If they see equipment, there is incentive to smash. If they see nothing to steal, or are unsure if there is anything valuable to steal, they probably will not.

I am also very aware of others around me and watching me. Being born and raised in Los Angeles, that was learned automatically.

I will also profile others by demographics which will determine what I do. Do I care what you or anybody else thinks about "political correctness?" Not one damned bit.

And more...

There's a GoFundme and looks like they've recouped the cost of the gear. Of course not the days work. They're real estate photographers and it wasn't a wedding for example.