yesterday (9/11) we left home, which is the corner of 6th and vernon at around 10:45, on bikes, with surfboards…arrived home at noon to find that we'd been robbed. They somehow got through an impossible to open back gate, and possibly the back door was not locked. there were 2 cars in the driveway and a large territorial dog at home. All the neighbors were home. theifs went through every drawer and cupboard. and took all electronics, cash found hidden in a drawer, etc – whatever they could carry. it took 3 phone calls and 4 hours for any police to come. and when they did come, they clearly had bigger problems, and just said "there are a ton of burglaries on the west side. just be glad you weren't home because sometimes that's not stopping them anymore." How screwed up is a city where you can't have a beer on the beach or god forbid bring the dog along without a cop showing up, but home robberies, well, that's just something we should all expect. So please, watch for people who are watching you and your house, and your neighbors house, because no one else is going to do it for you.

I'm sorry that this happened, we were also victims of a burglary in April this year. there were actually around 25 burglaries in the area, in about a two month period. Same thing, they took electronics and anything they could carry. 

It was reported that it a was a group of teenage kids and I think they arrested some of them or at least that was the rumor.

It seemed pretty quiet over the summer, didn't hear of any burglary's except for bicycles. 

I think its up to us as a community to just keep an eye out and also report any suspicious activity. 

Hopefully with enough complaints we will have more police attention on this matter. Also this Yo Venice blog is very helpful in keeping everyone informed. 

thanks for the map. wow. i can't believe how much more crime there is in venice than other areas.  And there were 2 other robberies in oakwood near us on the same day as ours. the police didn't even mention that.   

I feel for you as well, it is always traumatizing to feel that kind of invasion, our home too was a victim of the robberies in April. I posted a few weeks ago asking if anyone has answers to the rumors of arrests made. Apparently no one seems to know anything as not one person wrote a response. 

I know the police read the forums and are in contact with yo venice, could someone please provide an update as to the results of the burglary spree in April? And rumored action for arrests? Did anything ever get taken care of was anyone put in custody and convicted?

Most likely this new incident is not related, I truly hope it isn't. 

As for waiting, we too waited, we had to wait until midway through the next day for the police to show up and assess the situation, then hours more for a detective and fingerprinting. We given a case number to follow up with and did so and also told we would be followed up with but we were not. Our calls were not returned.

I inquired as to why it took so long to have a response and the officers told me, there only 1 to 2 units on patrol west of culver city and out to just before the beaches in Venice for these kinds of calls and incidents. Obviously there is more patrol up by the beach and if there are violent crimes more responding units, but they told me that was just the facts. There are very few officers assigned to follow up on these crimes. This statement is the opinion of the officers, so I cannot validate it as fact, but that is what they told us.

Unfortunately this seems to be the result when living in an over populated city, in an over populated, underfunded state. 

I hope this incident is isolated and you are able to recover from it calmly and quickly, but yes, everyone please be on the look out for suspicious activity to avoid an escalation like we had in April.

the crime map is a joke…..seriously.

maybe 10 percent of the crimes are on there….

there have been dozens of cops ticketing on lincoln for the last month…. dui= $7000 speeding $3-400

coming to your house does not make money….

my friend just got a ticket for using a cellphone on his bicycle..

the cops are a gang . they are in it for the money.

in the 80s when my house was broken into the cops never came……

maybe its time to start a new gang in venice?

+1 prepare yourselves expecting the cops WONT show up because lets face it, they arent. Community and neighbors are our strongest allie.

That sucks, nikki. I agree that the cops need to be doing things other than ticketing bicyclists and handling traffic infractions. I just don't know what it takes to get something done with respect to these robberies. So frustrating! 

im glad people are starting to realize what cops do with their time.

if you ever want to find some go to 7- 11 . they love hanging out over there…

well at least they check e mail.. lol

are you reading this cops…..

i wish we could cut your pay for being lazy..

One of the many disadvantages of being part of the city of Los Angeles, is that Venice is protected by the LAPD. As someone who has lived in Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach, I can tell you that there is a HUGE difference in Police per capita, response times, investigations and follow-up, between either of our neighboring beach cities and Venice. The LAPD can't even keep up with all of the "serious" crimes in Los Angeles, therefore property crime falls way down on the priority list for them.  SMPD is much more aggressive about investigating burglaries and robberies and they actually do more than just taking and filing a report. I'm sure the crooks know this as well, which is probably why there are so many more crimes here than in other neighboring areas. 

Incorporations are very hard and not looked upon friendly by the city because it means less revenues for them. Compton has the same issue and arguably needs their own police force 100x more than anyone else in the city. It generally takes a lot of cash to pull it off, that's how bev hills, brentwood, etc did it.

Things have definitely gotten much sketchier in the last few months, and last few weeks especially.

The response time is alarming, as is the concentration on the somewhat petty, money-making ticketed offenses. Am curious though, is the home robbery increase concentrated primarily in Oakwood?  It kinda seems to be….

I’ve never lived in Oakwood, but over the past 10 years I’ve lived in 4 different neighborhoods and have personally never experienced anything other than stolen bikes.

I know crimes do take place in other areas according to the not-so-accurate map, but as a whole, I still don’t think Venice is that bad—or rather it doesn’t seem that things in the past 6 months have dramatically gone downhill.  But is that only because I’m not feeling the increase due to where I live and style of abode I live in? Are certain styles of houses and apartments more vulnerable?  Do burglar bars really work? Are secure hallway style apartments better than those w/ doors that open to the public? Are you safer on a higher floor, rather than the ground floor?

As others have noted, be prepared, be aware and watch each other's backs!

These kids aren't just getting in unlocked doors or open windows. A few months ago, two of them came knocking on my door. I was working, and thought they were just selling stuff, so I didn't answer. After about 10 minutes, they started to try to knock the door in. Thankfully, it's a steel door. So I opened it and greeted them with an aluminum bat. And said they were just in time for "batting practice". They ran off before I could ID them. I know it was stupid of me to do. But it felt oddly good. And I haven't seen them since.

Easton was the brand of bat, in case anyone was wondering.