Yeah, that strikes me as plausible, though it could also be that the PAPD encountered two different sets of burglars entering occupied houses quite near each other, which led them to suspect that something larger and more organized was going on than was in fact happening.

Yeah, the incidents are about an hour before, but it takes time for the cops to arrive, decide to conduct a search, call in a helicopter, and have the helicopter actually show up. The press release says they used a helicopter from San José, so I suspect it simply arrived long after the burglar fled.

The Palo Alto Police Department apparently called in a helicopter from San Jose

www.paloalto.gov/News-Article...

No news coverage, but the Palo Alto Police Department put out a press release which documents that they were supported by a helicopter from San José

www.paloalto.gov/News-Article...

Here's an open-access preprint:

kevinjkircher.com/wp-content/u...