Liveblog: Community meeting for Mission Rapes

8:21 pm PDT

The proverbial “one last thing”: Both Supervisor Scott Wiener and Andy Segal confirm that a streetlight at 24th and Fair Oaks was burned out the night of the attacks. Segal said the light had been burned out “for a while,” and had been reported but no action was taken by PG&E, The City, or the PUC.

8:08 pm PDT

The meeting has broken up and people are leaving. This concludes SFBay’s live coverage.

8:08 pm PDT

From PG&E’s Ontario Smith: We got a report from Scott Wiener’s office a streetlight at 24th and Fair Oaks was burned out at 7:30 a.m. Monday. Was fixed by 11:30 a.m. Unclear if light was working or not the night of the attack.

8:07 pm PDT

Arie Jongejan, friend of victim: She is alive. She is battered but recovering quickly. Emotionally, psychologically, mentally, it’s too early to tell. Since the attack, she’s had loved ones by her side 24 hours a day. Very thankful for letters and cards. They have lifted her spirits. She thanks you for that. The victim prefers you contribute financially to assist.

8:02 pm PDT

Supervisor Scott Weiner: What should people do if they think their block needs more streetlights?

PUC speaker: Call 311 and request a lighting evaluation.

7:59 pm PDT

Question: I’ve heard that the perp’s M.O. is to break the victim’s neck. Is that true? Also, how do you know the person on the video camera is the person who committed the crime?

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: No broken necks. All victims have survived. Regarding the camera, we can’t go into the investigation, but we’re confident based on the location, description, and time of day.

Question: Have other security cameras in the area been checked?

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: This is an ongoing investigation. We are checking everything. I don’t want to get into the case details, I just can’t do that. Rest assured that we are checking everything possible.

7:57 pm PDT

Question: How many rapes in San Francisco each year?

SFPD Deputy Chief Antonio Parra: About 135 sexual assaults in The City so far this year. They’re not all rapes, includes sexual battery and other types of assaults. We’ve seen some downward trends, and have had some good luck recently in making arrests and prosecuting. We have increased the number of investigators on sexual crimes, and we plan to attack this investigation very comprehensively.

7:55 pm PDT

Question: Why hasn’t The City installed more cameras?

Supervisor  Scott Wiener: It’s controversial. Some people think cameras violate people’s civil rights. There are a few in The City in high-crime locations.

7:54 pm PDT

Andy Segal: A camera can deter crime, but it doesn’t always assist the investigation. Sometimes the quality is too poor.

7:53 pm PDT

Question: How was it that the perpetrator was captured on surveillance video, and how important is that to solving crimes?

SFPD Deputy Chief Antonio Parra: We need all tips and reports, no matter how small they are. We were fortunate that a private property owner had technology working at the time. Unfortunately, the perpetrator noticed the camera, and turned away. Look at his movements. Look at his clothing. Did you get home late? Did you see this person? Did he bump into you? Say something? Anything.

7:51 pm PDT

Question: Why hasn’t more been done to get this word out? I just found out this morning at the bus stop.

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: A report of the first attack near 24th and Potrero was distributed in that neighborhood to businesses and on the Internet.

7:48 pm PDT

Question: We haven’t noticed any increased police presence.

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: Some of our officers are undercover. If you notice them, they’re not doing their job. We are working as hard as we can to keep the neighborhood safe.

7:47 pm PDT

Supervisor Scott Weiner is introducing a question and answer period.

7:47 pm PDT

Andy Segal: Have set up GMail group for neighborhood to stay in touch. That will allow the group to communicate, and if we see something we’re concerned about we can get that out to everybody.

7:45 pm PDT

Jerdine Clarke, Victim Advocate, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office: The community has come out and said this is not OK. It’s great to see everybody here showing support to the survivors.

7:43 pm PDT

Carla Short, Department of Public Works: Really impressive turnout, atrocious set of events. Encourages property owners to install their own lights. The Brava Theater on 24th & York does this really well. Call 311 to notify DPW of trees that are blocking lights and need to be trimmed. If you want to trim your own tree, contact DPW. It’s important to do it correctly or the new growth can grow back even denser, blocking more light.

7:41 pm PDT

Ontario Smith, PG&E: Use 311, Use the PG&E Web site at http://pge.com/streetlights to file a report about a non-functional streetlight.

Found out the streetlight at 24th & Fair Oaks was burned out on Monday morning. It was fixed by Tuesday. We try to move quickly on these reports.

7:39 pm PDT

PUC speaker: Lighting in The City is a joint effort between PG&E and the PUC. Residents need to call 311.

PG&E speaker: Our hearts go out to the survivors. We want to be here to show our support in recognition of our role in maintaining public safety.

7:38 pm PDT

Supervisor Scott Weiner: Neighborhood Watch programs are really key to fighting crime. Contact SF Safe to organize block-by-block and get help forming a Neighborhood Watch program.

Lighting kept coming up over and over again as a potential issue. Especially on Fair Oaks, with beautiful mature trees. Made an unfortunate choice years ago to install streetlights that focus on the streets, for cars, not on the sidewalks for pedestrians.

Introducing speakers from the PUC and PG&E to speak about lighting.

If you see a light out, call 311 and get a tracking number. If it isn’t fixed in a few days, e-mail it to Wiener’s office and he will follow up.

7:34 pm PDT

Rob McKenzie: Talking about securing your property. Lights are important but it’s not just about brightness. Lights need to be aimed properly. Gates work better than fences, since you can see through gates. Fences block views and people might not be able to see crimes which are occurring. http://sfsafe.org has more information about how to secure your property and your community.

7:32 pm PDT

Appears there are between 150 and 200 people at the meeting. The pews at St. James are nearly full throughout the church.

7:31 pm PDT

Andy Segal: We want to address healing our neighborhood and healing our community. A candelight vigil was held from 24th and Fair Oaks to St. James Church.

Rob McKenzie (name not confirmed), from SF Safe will tell us what we can do to protect our private property.

7:28 pm PDT

District Attorney George Gascon: We have been in contact with the victims and are working with them, their support networks, and the community at large. That’s one part of what we do. The second part is working with the police department to make sure they get prepare a case that can be presented to a jury.

7:26 pm PDT

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: You are our eyes and our ears. If you see or hear anything, it’s important to call us. Call 911. We need to know. We need to find whoever is committing these crimes.

Yesterday Mayor Ed Lee established a 25K reward for information that leads to the capture of the suspect.

7:23 pm PDT

SFPD Commander Michael Biel: Chief Suhr could not attend due to a prior engagement. “This case is a top priority of his, and a top priority of mine.”

SFPD will use all of its resources to bring this perpetrator to justice. “Horrific, tragic acts of violence.” The victims were choked, sexually assaulted, and robbed.

“We’ve had five meetings in the last two days to bring together all of our resources to put together a plan to saturate the 24th Street corridor.”

7:19 pm PDT

Jerdine Clarke, Victim Advocate, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. ”Take a look around you and realize that you’re not alone.”

We’ve done a lot to reach out to the victims. Neighbors sent personal cards that we have taken to the survivor. We’ve set up easels in the back of the room that you can sign to show your support.

Clark says they have established a 24th Street Survivors Fund. Money will be distributed to victims for them to use or donate to a cause.

7:17 pm PDT

Supervisor David Campos: “To loved ones and those who know the victims: Our hearts go out to you, whatever we can do to ease the pain. Thank you so much for caring so much about this neighborhood. Let’s make something positive from this very negative thing that happened.”

7:15 pm PDT

Supervisor David Campos: “We as City officials need to put whatever resources at the disposal of the community to make sure something like this does not happen again.”

We have approached every City department to make sure resources are gathered and made available for the community.

“We need to take steps to make our communities safter. That is a commitment from me.”

7:14 pm PDT

Supervisor David Campos is now speaking. “The first thing I want to underscore is that it doesn’t matter where something happens, it can happen anywhere in The City.”

7:13 pm PDT

Supervisor Scott Weiner has taken the microphone. ”We need to join together to make sure this monster is brought to justice. Lighting, trees, and other issues can all play a part. ”Need to make sure our neighborhood is as safe as can be.”

7:09 pm PDT

Andy Segal of the Fair Oaks Community Coalition has opened the meeting. Said he lives only five doors down from the second attack at 24th and Fair Oaks.

7:07 pm PDT

Our story from Monday on the rapes: Violent Mission rapes have police seeking help