The best hiding place for thieves (at least in San Francisco) seems to be
behind curtains and sunshades/screens.

I have tinted windows in my VW Fox Wagon and had a (foil-type) sunshade. It
was the perfect place for the thieves to go through my belongings without
being seen. This happened while I was in a house in St. Francis Woods (which
is a very expensive part of San Francisco) for a mere 35 minutes. Mind you,
this was on Junipero Serra which has 200,000 vehicles passing daily. These
guys must have been pros though. They got in and took all the valuables
including my in-dash stereo without damaging anything else. They even locked
up after themselves.

Oh yeah, they took all my CD's except my business partner's copy of Madonna's
rendition of Evita which they stomped & crushed on the floor. Was that a
message?

Called the cops. SFPD's response, "Sir, we get 80 of these calls per shift.
There are three shifts. Would you just please call your insurance company?
Here's your police report number..." Cute, eh?

Ben
San Francisco