Burlingame Businesses Experience an Increase in Petty Crime

 The Apple store opens at the beginning of the day without a police car in its proximity. Once customers start arriving and more people will be on the streets, a police car will be stationed to deter theft from occurring at the store. The Apple store opens at the beginning of the day without a police car in its proximity. Once customers start arriving and more people will be on the streets, a police car will be stationed to deter theft from occurring at the store.

The Bay Area is one of the safest regions in the nation. There are rarely any reports of crime and little to no accounts of crime on the news. However, this is only the case for large crimes. Little or petty crimes are still an issue in Burlingame. In fact, reports of these crimes have increased since 2016 began.

One of the main crime hotspots is the Apple store on Burlingame Avenue. There has been an increase of crime targeting Apple stores throughout the Bay Area, and Burlingame has not been an exception. In fact, according to a Fox News report, the store was robbed three times in December.

Junior Kyle Doran is not worried about this increase in crime.

“While the increase of petty crime is something to be concerned about, I don’t think that we should be troubled about being affected by crime. Burlingame is a safe city, and I believe that it will continue to be,” Doran said.

Since then, the Apple store has a police car stationed in front of it for most of the day to lower the chance of another robbery of the store and others on Burlingame Avenue.

The Apple store is not the only place where petty crime has increased. The Lululemon store on Burlingame Avenue has also been the target of crime.

Lululemon has a “no running” policy, meaning that once a thief has walked out the doors, employees are not allowed to chase after them. Just recently, a theft was reported where a woman entered the store, grabbed many pairs of yoga pants, and ran out with about $3000 worth of clothes. Due to the policy, employees were unable to chase after her.

Sophomore Grace Chen believes that the “no running” policy should be terminated.

“It makes no sense. Having this policy in place only helps people conduct crime,” Chen said.

How does this affect students at Burlingame High School? According to the on-campus police officer, Heather Rumbaugh, the main crime to be wary of is auto-burglary.

“People look at the valuables inside your car and smash the windows to steal them, so don’t leave important items in the open. It’s best that you hide them,” Rumbaugh said.

Students, make sure to be aware of the valuables inside of your car and to not display them to the public to deter burglary.