Senator Wiener Formally Introduces Legislation To Crack Down on Car Break Ins by Closing Outrageous “Locked Door” Loophole

SACRAMENTO – Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced SB 905, a bill sponsored by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, removing the “locked door loophole,” a senseless barrier to holding auto burglars accountable. The bill’s introduction delivers on a promise Senator Wiener announced in October to tackle the issue this legislative session. 

Auto break-ins have long been a vexing problem in San Francisco, and despite recent progress by city officials reducing the number of break-ins, they remain a problem.

One barrier to consistent, effective enforcement is the locked door loophole. Under current law, convicting a suspect of auto burglary requires that prosecutors prove not just that the person entered the vehicle without permission or did so forcibly but also that the vehicle was locked. The mere fact that a window was broken is insufficient — prosecutors must prove that the door was locked, which requires that victims must physically come to court to testify as such. This requirement can sabotage clear cases of guilt, particularly for situations where someone is visiting San Francisco and is not going to return just to testify that they locked the car door.

SB 905 eliminates this needless requirement; instead, forcible entry will be sufficient to prove the crime of auto burglary, which may be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.

“Car break-ins have long been a huge problem in San Francisco, and we need to address this issue aggressively,” said Senator Wiener. “While San Francisco has made recent progress tackling this issue, we need to continue that momentum. The locked door loophole is nonsensical. A victim of auto burglary should not be asked to testify that they locked the car door. It’s simply not relevant. By making clear cases of auto break-in easier to prosecute, SB 905 helps make California safer for everyone.”

Senator Wiener previously authored similar legislation: in 2019, Senate Bill 23 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and in 2018, Senate Bill 916 died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.