Authorities in San Mateo Searching for Man Who Fled in Stolen Car

J C Morris August 5, 2012 at 02:36 pm

so does this mean I am to call about every " African-American male, approximately 5'4" and 140 pounds with an unknown clothing description." ? What about a discription of the vehicle? Nice reporting on this one.

Andrew Marks August 5, 2012 at 02:36 pm

C'mon Patch, can you offer up a bit more information here, like maybe the make and model of the car? You've essentially told your readers to look for a mid-20's african american in a car. Why don't you title this article "Racial Profiling in Hillsborough." It would be more appropriate given the information you've provided.

Edward K Baldwin August 5, 2012 at 02:45 pm

What type of journalism is this? Don't let the ACLU see this report or you might be called on the carpet. Hold on, I just saw a black mail in a vehicle that I could describe so maybe that was the guy, or maybe not.

Edward K Baldwin August 5, 2012 at 02:45 pm

I met male, not mail.

Jennifer van der Kleut August 5, 2012 at 03:01 pm

I completely understand the frustration. Obviously, the limited information would make it hard for anyone to spot such a suspect. Unfortunately, this bare-bones info is all that the authorities have sent out. All other news outlets reporting this info - such as the Mercury News, Bay City News, etc. - were given the same limited info. Patch wanted to help make readers aware of the manhunt going on, but we are reporting all the info we've been given at this point. If any info on the stolen car is given in the coming hours, we will be sure to report it.

Andrew Marks August 5, 2012 at 04:45 pm

Well then it was irresponsible for you and the rest of the press to report it.

Joan S. Dentler (Editor) August 5, 2012 at 04:53 pm

Thank you Andrew and Edward for your comments. As mentioned in the article, the information came directly from SMC (San Mateo County) Alert system---no more, no less. As information comes available from authorities, we will update the story.

Andrew Marks August 5, 2012 at 08:55 pm

This is the problem with the press these days which is exacerbated by the velocity at which information flows throughout our society via technology. There is no sense of "getting the story straight" before pushing the info out to the general public.
This is a ridiculously inconsequential example though of the laziness that the press has fallen in to. One question. Did anyone bother to pick up the phone and call the Hillsborough PD and ask what the make and model of the car was? Prior to the Patch being acquired by AOL, I would have expected this kind of half-assed reporting because it was mostly volunteer driven. But In addition to local news outlets like The Patch, AOL also owns more formal press outlets like Huffington Post. Am I just expecting too much?

Andrew Marks August 5, 2012 at 08:56 pm

...or are you guys just aggregating news feeds via RSS and pushing it out to your subscribers?

Denise Nelson August 6, 2012 at 12:35 am

Thank you Joan for sharing the alert. Although I understand that it frustrates many that the car was not included in the report nor the alert, isn't that an issue for improvement from the SMPD alert system rather than Patch? As my mother lives in the area I was able to let her know why the police were there and to stay inside until they were gone. People are trying to be neighborly and help. No one has set out to purposely with hold info. Thank you again Joan. I find these small timely alerts to quell nervousness when there is police action in the area.

Joan S. Dentler (Editor) August 6, 2012 at 12:43 am

Thanks for your note Denise. It is frustrating at times when information is limited or slow to be released by authorities---but as you say, it's important to get the most accurate info we have at the time out to the community.

Gurcan Ozmert September 7, 2012 at 02:10 pm

They stole my Ford Van Econoline 150 front of my House in Belmont 3 days ago. Economy is going down and crime is up as usual. My concern is ; what the city of Belmont Police Chief Dan De Smidt do about stopping ongoing crime in our beautiful Belmont? I made an appointment in his office but couldn't talk to him face to face to express my feelings about all this things, rather he appoint a officer to talk
to me and he sad that chief is busy.As I understand there is no cameras at the key spots in the city at all.But they put cameras for the red lights runners! I really not feeling safe anymore here, we have kids,families at home. What should we expect next? they broke in to our Houses?! And they do not enough Patrol service at night time., they must put more Patrol to make sure we are safe .I am sure that we all live here in Belmont support them what ever action they will take to make sure we all in safe.But at this moment I really do not feel secure living here. The people coming out of town and rob us from left and right! We have to stud up and put our voice little more louder that our new Chief hear us and hopefully take more serial steps to prevent that , that should be not that easy to come and stole our vehicles in front of our Houses! That is very understandable that he can not put officer to every corner but there is things to be done for sure.People in Belmont: time to wake up and raise your voice , we can not lose this bottle against the bad guys!! Gurcan Ozmert

Denise Nelson September 8, 2012 at 12:16 am

I'm so sorry you have to go though this! Our Ford van was stolen from our home in Spring, so I do understand how you feel! It was an eye opener to say the least. Even now we no longer feel home is safe. I suggest you take a look at www.crimereports.com to see how much or how little goes on in your neighborhood. We are looking to move to Belmont because the crime is less than our neighborhood. Your frustration is valid. I do hope your stolen vehicle is recovered and undamaged. You are right that the neighborhood has to look out for each other to help prevent more crime. Hope life is a bit easier soon!