Recently there has been a rash of solicitors in San Leandro neighborhoods. The stories have been bold and varied. The youth have often been polite, clean cut and well behaved. Their stories often sounded very legitimate.

 Here is what the San Leandro Police Department says about solicitors:  Identify who is knocking or buzzing by asking through the door before opening. If they are some sort of solicitor, have them produce identification. The PEDDLER PERMIT from the City of San Leandro has the city logo and states the card is the property of the City of San Leandro. The card is a laminated card and must be worn by the person at all times while conducting business in the City of San Leandro. They also need a city Business License. The Business License has CITY OF SAN LEANDRO in large print on the front side. Do not accept any excuses. If the solicitors do not have the proper ID, tell them you are not interested and contact the SLPD non-emergency telephone number 577-2740.

Below are some of the types of door-to-door stories that occurred in a San Leandro neighborhood around the dates of March 2 to March 8, 2010 and March 17, 2010

• Youth soliciting for baseball
• Collecting money for San Leandro High School baseball team to go to the World Series in Lahaina, Maui;
• coach was making him do this, had nothing in his hand
• collecting money for his team;
• collecting money for his team and claimed to live on San Jose St., had spikey hair, tall, Caucasian, wire-framed glasses, wearing a blue sweatshirt
• white male claimed he lived on Lee Ave., son of a doctor, did chores for people to raise money, washes Mr. Jones’ car 2 doors down (note, there is no Mr. Jones two-doors down);
• claimed to be Dr. Lee’s son and to live in the neighborhood, 20’s, almost shaved head, black Nor-Cal jacket, red & white tennis shoes, jeans, umbrella, pierced ear

There are considerable differences in crime between Council Districts in San Leandro.  District 2 saw the largest total number of Part I Crimes [murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, vehicle theft & arson] numbering 111 in December, 2009, Bayfair accounting for 29 of that total.  District 5 is next in line with 60 total Part I crimes for December [District 5 includes Broadmoor HOA and Estudillo Estates HOA].  The lowest numbers come from District 4 with a low of 39 Part I crimes in December, the majority of them being larceny.  Up-to-date crime statistics can be obtained from the SLPD website http://www.sanleandro.org/depts/pd/crime/statistics.asp   

• Keep carts in a secure area hidden from public view at all times except on the day of collection
• Place recycling carts out at the curb the morning of collection rather than the day before collection
• Shred documents with personal or sensitive information before discarding them