A prowler in the backyard of a home on Tulip Lane eluded Palo Alto police on Tuesday, Oct. 9, after a homeowner spotted him hopping a fence in her backyard, police said. But while police hunted for the man, another resident flagged down an officer to report that his home on nearby Wildwood Lane had been burglarized.
The Tulip Lane resident saw the man jump the fence into the rear of the yard at about 1:30 p.m. and called police immediately. Officers set up a perimeter around the neighborhood to try to catch the man, but could not find him, Sgt. Kara Apple said.
The man is described as Caucasian, in his late 20s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds and with a slight build. He had light-brown hair and wore a turquoise-and-white-striped shirt and light pants.
While police sought the prowler, a resident in the 600 Block of Wildwood near Channing Avenue flagged down a patrol car and reported that his home had been burglarized. Apple said the report for the theft had not yet been completed.
Residents have been concerned about the recent uptick in burglaries in their neighborhood, and many are looking into obtaining surveillance equipment and developing community crime-fighting strategies, they said.
A community meeting for Crescent Park and Duveneck/St. Francis residents is being sponsored on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 6:30 p.m. by the Crescent Park Neighborhood Association. The meeting will take place at the Duveneck Elementary School Multi-Purpose Room, which is located in the far corner of the school, 705 Alester Ave. (corner of Channing) in Palo Alto. Members of the Palo Alto Police Department will speak.
Statistics, a map and other details describing the current activity will be presented, along with what efforts are underway to address the issue. Suggested recommendations that individual families can consider will also be discussed and a question-and-answer session will follow.
Skinny young white man with light hair sounds like that artist sketch that the police are circulating. Hope the police can catch this serial criminal quickly. Everyone please look at that sketch again and call the police if you know any potential suspects: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=27088
Probably that ex-cop, now felon, who lived on Tulip.
Was that ex-cop a skinny blonde dude? Could this be why a helicopter hovered over Palo Alto for an hour, late this afternoon?
Who is the x-cop now felon from tulip? What did he do?
Will the police post the map online?
They have been keeping the residential burglary map up on the department website. It hasn’t been updated in a couple weeks (and sad that it needs multiple updates).
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1948&TargetID=94
FYI- the link to the pdf doesn’t work for me in chrome, but does work in other browsers.
Another reason to have protection (i.e dogs and alarm system with camera surveillance). Very very scary about all these burglaries.
I think the people in the community center should get together to plan how we can help one another.
Marilyn 325-4520
I know several people who have had their homes burglarized. All of them had burglar alarms that were turned on. But the burglar alarms didn’t help. The criminals get in and out of the house so fast that the alarms are of little value. And the police never catch the crooks. What should we do, short of having a barking German Shepard living in our backyards? Any advice would be appreciated.
Have an alarm that barks like a German Shepherd!
The other thing that’s happening all over the place is cars being broken into by smashing the front window and stealing anything that looks like a laptop. My son’s car got the treatment even though his case had nothing but sheet music in it, the burglar, I’m sure, thought it was a laptop and threw all the music in the street and took off with the briefcase. Don’t leave things like that in the car. Too much of a target!