Full Notification

The following is a summary of criminal activity in El Cerrito. It does not include all crimes. It also does not include non-criminal events such as missing persons, traffic collisions, non-criminal deaths, non-criminal disputes, nor many other police activities that do not result in arrest.
 
January 2^nd
Petty Theft – 600 block of Lexington Ave.
Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect stole 4 mailboxes from the complex. 

Attempted Vehicle Theft – 6600 block of Waldo Ave.
Sometime between 12/18/22 and 1/1/23, an unknown suspect gained entry into the victim’s vehicle by shattering a window.  Once inside, the suspect destroyed the steering column in an attempt to steal the vehicle. 

Vehicle Theft – 5900 block of San Diego St. 
On 12/29/22, an unknown suspect stole the victim’s 2007 Chevy 3500 pickup. 

Brandishing a weapon – Lexington Ave. / Eureka Ave.
At 4 p.m., an unknown suspect ran towards the victim while making a slashing motion.  The victim was able to flee on his bicycle and call police. 
 
January 3^rd

Residential Burglary – 800 block of Shevlin Dr. 
Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect climbed into the victim’s residence through a window and stole belongings. 

Auto Burglary – 2500 block of Carquinez Ave. 
Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect shattered the window of the victim’s vehicle and stole property. 

Burglary – 10636 San Pablo Ave (24 Hour Fitness): At 7:00 hours, an officer reports two lockers in the women’s locker room were broken in to during the previous two hours and purses, wallets, house keys and car keys were stolen.  One victim reported her cards had already been used at a Target store in Richmond.

Robbery (Firearm) – Potrero Ave / S.55^th St.: On 12/31/2022, approximately 3:30 PM, the victim was stopped by two unidentified suspects as he rode his bicycle toward Safeway.  (S-1) produced a black handgun and demanded money.  The victim gave up his $800 yellow bicycle (NFD) and the suspects fled in an unknown direction.  (S-1) was a black male wearing a ski mask and all black clothing with no further description.  No description was available for (S-2).  The victim initially made an online report with Richmond PD and was unfamiliar with how to make police reports in the United States, so he was not successful in reporting the incident to El Cerrito PD until today.

January 4^th
 
January 5^th

Shoplift / Possess Paraphernalia / False Identity to Peace Officer / Arrest Warrants – 11545 San Pablo Ave (Ross):
At 6:32 PM, while conducting a security check in the shopping center, an officer was flagged down by Ross employees regarding a theft in progress.  A 37 year old San Mateo man was detained in the parking lot, and was positively identified and placed under citizen’s arrest by Ross staff.  A crack pipe was located on his person incident to arrest.
The name and date of birth provided verbally by the arrested man at the scene returned with no match, he had no hard ID, and he claimed to be out of Connecticut, so he was transported to ECPD for booking.  The man provided his true identity once he was in booking.  He had a $100K traffic warrant out of Nevada County and a $50K theft warrant out of Pleasanton.  The man was cited for the new charges, then taken to the Martinez Detention Facility for the warrants.