Sheriff deputy’s gun and bulletproof vest stolen from SF home

File photo of police squad car at night. Patrol car with lights flashing File photo of police squad car at night. Patrol car with lights flashing Photo: Ron Chapple, Getty Image Photo: Ron Chapple, Getty Image Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Sheriff deputy’s gun and bulletproof vest stolen from SF home 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A San Francisco sheriff deputy’s gun and bulletproof vest were stolen from his home near Visitacion Valley on Friday morning, police said.

The burglary on the 300 block of Tocoloma Avenue was reported to San Francisco police at 7:35 a.m. Officers responding to the call discovered the windows and doors of the home all open and the house ransacked, said police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza.

Taken in the break-in were the deputy’s 9mm Glock handgun, which had been secured in a lockbox, as well as two loaded magazines, a duty belt, a ballistics vest and a San Francisco Police Department-issued off-duty wallet flat badge, Esparza said.

Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, said the burglars also took a department-issued radio, which authorities managed to disable remotely. After the deputy reported the theft to the Police Department, he made a verbal report to the Sheriff’s Department, in keeping with policy.

“This is a matter of serious concern to Sheriff Vicki Hennessy and the Sheriff’s Department,” Hirst said. “Any missing firearm is a danger to public safety, and we are hopeful it will be recovered quickly and safely.”

In June, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management agent’s gun was stolen in a car burglary and used to fatally shoot 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle as she walked with her father on Pier 14 in San Francisco on July 1.

In August, UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett had her department-issued gun and badge stolen from her car when she went for a jog at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond.

Less than a month later, a firearm stolen from a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s rental car in San Francisco was used to kill artist Antonio Ramos as the 27-year-old worked on an antiviolence mural in Oakland.

A gun belonging to an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was stolen out of his personal car in October. Last month, the service weapon belonging to another ICE agent was reported missing after he left it on top of his car.

According to experts, guns are highly valued items for thieves looking to divert the weapons to criminals on the street. Because of their accessibility to firepower, those in law enforcement have long feared that their homes, too, may be targets for burglars.

That proved true in 2013, when burglars set their sights on a K-9 officer’s home in Richmond. Thieves poisoned his pet Labrador retriever and his police dog, a Belgian Malinois. The burglars waited for him to rush one of the dogs to a veterinarian before breaking into his house and swiping his guns. The Labrador retriever died in the incident.

Esparza said San Francisco investigators are cognizant of the public safety issues at stake after Friday’s burglary and are working to recover the stolen property.

“We don’t want this person running around the streets with a gun and ballistics vest,” he said.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo