For Carla Dagnone, the home invasion she suffered occurred while her teenage daughter was at home.
She and her husband were out to dinner when her daughter called, saying thieves had broken into their home in the unincorporated area of Los Altos. After the couple rushed back, a 911 dispatcher told Dagnone not to enter the house and wait for the police. After the first deputy arrived, the deputy needed to wait for backup. About 15 minutes later, the police entered the home where their daughter was locked in the bedroom to find the thieves had stolen passports from their safe, she said.
The experience convinced her that more regular Sheriff’s Office patrols and availability are needed to combat the recent rise in burglaries.
“They know there is not regular or nearby police presence in our neighborhoods, and they have been proven right time and time again,” Dagnone said of the burglars.
Her experience summed up resident frustration for many in Los Altos Hills and the unincorporated areas of Los Altos at Sunday’s community safety forum to address burglaries in the area. Many called for more resources and priority from law enforcement and politicians moving forward, like decreasing 911 response time numbers and adding more deputies on duty.
“We want to work with you on solutions, but we need to see that you are taking our concerns seriously and will act on them,” Dagnone said to the public officials.
Held at Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos, the forum allowed residents to express disappointment with burglary responses while giving local leaders and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office a platform to explain how they are responding. The gathering included Mountain View Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga, California State Board of Equalization Chair Sally Lieber, Los Altos Hills Vice Mayor Lisa Schmidt, Los Altos Mayor Jonathan Weinberg and Kris Zanardi, policy director from the office of Supervisor Joe Simitian. The Sheriff’s Office was represented by Sheriff Bob Jonsen and Lieutenant Jason Brown.
The lieutenant noted burglary rates had been unusually high since coming out of the pandemic and were being done by highly sophisticated criminals, usually working in pairs who are in and out of a home in around three minutes. Once taken, they will immediately head to a shipping location to send the materials to their home country through a packaging service, Brown said.
There were 61 burglaries in 2023 in Los Altos Hills, up from 51 in 2022. The lieutenant noted that residential burglaries in the unincorporated Los Altos area served by the Sheriff’s Office were down 50% in 2024 from the same time last year. The Sheriff’s Office has also recently arrested four people for various residential burglary crimes in Los Altos Hills between April and September 2023, with another five identified as suspects, leading to arrest warrants requested for the five.
Jonsen noted that the Sheriff’s Office had secured $11 million in grant funding last year to address retail theft, which will also help the Sheriff’s Office with residential burglaries.
“So, there are things that we are doing internally that should help us help you in addressing this crime,” Jonsen said.
Zanardi, from Simitian’s office, said that the supervisor was committed to continuing to work and providing the resources needed to the Sheriff’s Office to address community needs, such as automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras.
“The Board of Supervisors has adopted all the policies that are necessary to deploy ALPRs in the unincorporated areas, and we continue to work with the Sheriff’s Office as they explore bringing that forward to full fruition,” Zanardi said.
Schmidt, the vice mayor of Los Altos Hills, noted the town recently saw a significant reduction in burglaries, down about 34% over the last six months compared to the last six months. The town has also significantly increased its spending on public safety, increasing its budget by 94% since 2020, going from $1.76 million to $3.43 million, something that comes at a cost due to the amount needed for wildfire safety.
“We will be going into our budgeting now,” Schmidt said. “Can we keep up this level of spending? What will we have to trade off? These are questions we need to answer.”
