From Daily Republic // Oct. 18, 2005
By Audrey Wong
SUISUN CITY - Robert Watts woke up Oct. 9 to find the driver's-side window of his gray pickup truck knocked out. Then he glanced at his neighbors' homes on the 600 block of Canvasback Drive.
He saw glass shards near other cars on the block. There was no rhyme or reason to it, it appeared many cars were targeted as far down as Worley Road, just a couple blocks away.
The destruction didn't end there. Sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, someone apparently shot the side window of Robert Steeves' van. The tempered-glass window bears a small hole surrounded by numerous cracks and the glass would shatter if touched. Robert's son Richard Steeves estimates 30 vehicles had windows tampered with.
Residents of Canvasback Drive, Cackling Drive and surrounding streets experienced a string of window bashings. On Oct. 2, Suisun City police received six reports of smashed windows - four on Canvasback Drive and two on Cackling Drive.
But Suisun City police have not received reports on the latest series of vandalism and don't have anyone investigating the case, said Juan Camacho, police spokesman. In cases such as vandalism, the police department can send victims a report form they can fill out and send to police.
Periodically, vandals will focus on one area. One day last November, someone broke 12 windows in the Lawler Ranch neighborhood, Camacho said.
Watts and Richard Steeves are angry that police didn't visit their homes to take a report.
With only 22 officers to cover Suisun City, the department had to cut back on some services, Camacho said. When the force went from 30 to 22 officers, the department stopped sending officers out on medical calls. It also stopped responding to cold cases where no one was hurt, the crime already occurred and there are no suspects.
Vandalism is considered a cold case, which has no suspects and no reported injuries.
“Our priority is crimes against people,” Camacho said.
If police hear enough reports to establish a pattern of vandalism, then investigators will be notified and patrol officers will be advised to look for the suspect, Camacho said.
The Oct. 9 window-breakings extended to residents on Worley Road, Watts said. That same day, someone shot out the huge picture window on Richard Steeves' mobile home - a few days before vandals struck his father's van. The combined cost to replace the windows will be nearly $1,000 and because the glass for both windows is tempered, Steeves must wait for the replacement part.
“I'm really upset because the police can't do anything about it,” Steeves said. “They won't take a report, they won't patrol they won't investigate, nothing. I'm not the only one who made a call about it. I'm sure there are others.”
Reach Audrey Wong at 427-6951 or awong@dailyrepublic.net.
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