Although Palo Alto police officials initially reported that the city’s Teleminder warning system for residents was put into use last week in the hunt for a gun-wielding carjacker, the system was never actually used, Capt. Dennis Burns said.

Police scrambled last Monday afternoon to close off a neighborhood south of Greer Park after they found the car the man had carjacked at gunpoint. As part of sealing off the neighborhood and later conducting a yard-to-yard search of the area, police said the city’s Teleminder system was being engaged to warn residents.

The automated telephone system can call about 200 people an hour. It was first installed to give residents early warning of a possible flood.

“By the time a message would have been prepared and delivered, it would have been out-dated,” Burns said, noting that the city is about to get a new system that is easier to use.

Meanwhile, it appears that the man sought first for a residential burglary and car theft and then for carjacking may have slipped past police last week while a perimeter was being set up.

Burns said police are still processing evidence from the two vehicles the man had used. “They’re looking at a couple of things,” Burns said.

To see a map of residential burglaries in the city, from April 1 to June 30, click here.

To see a map of auto burglaries and thefts from autos in the city, from April 1 to June 30, click here.

— Don Kazak

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