5 ms·

If you take BART and ride into Oakland -- you are on your own. There is no one that will protect you. My next door neighbor was assaulted. She was brutalized.

If you take BART and ride into Oakland -- you are on your own. There is no one that will protect you. My next door neighbor was assaulted. She was brutalized. Sigh. It was bad. THEN she went home, reported it with police. This is where it gets weird. The people that assaulted her -- armed with her ID card went to her APARTMENT -- luckly she was somewhere else with her parents. The people that brutalized her ransacked her apartment without care of being caught. The detective on the case was really awesome from Oakland PD. He talked with me since I saw one of the guys leave the apartment. He mentioned: "She is lucky". Unfortunately, he explained, there is no way to prosecute these guys unless there is camera evidence.

chaostheory 8y ago
I feel that surveillance in the form of Little Sister (https://medium.com/@chaostheory/little-sister-14bf095d3441 https://medium.com/@chaostheory/little-sister-14bf095d3441) will be even more prevalent if not ubiquitous. Decent megapixel cameras now can be bought for about $25. Between the crime that you mentioned and the rise of petty crimes such as package theft, many people are willingly putting Amazon's and Google's eyes both inside and outside of their homes.
nodesocket 8y ago
This ideology of inaction, or "nothing" we can do about it, is a phenomenon unique to the bay area. I used to live there, and it is one of the reasons I left. Criminal activity is not pursued, bad behavior is not penalized. I'm sure there are many reasons, but I suspect a big factor is that police and politicians are afraid of cracking down due to the political fallout and backlash. There is a palpable disdain for police officers there. The ironic thing is the people who are mostly likely voters and taxpayers are the ones who are fed up with the crime and leaving.
- pteredactyl 8y ago
  Yea I'm in SF not sure how long I'll last. It's a cess pool. Criminals have more rights than children. There was a crazy homeless guy who would shit everyday in front of a school in Bernal. The police couldn't do anything about it. You are completely right about the fear of political fallout for wanting to uphold the law. It's sad.
  - diogenescynic 8y ago
    >Criminals have more rights than children. This is the most succinct way I’ve seen it explained and it’s 100% accurate. You’re also right about the fear of upholding the law. It’s sad AND ridiculous. A relevant article about another local offender cops just ignore: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Cole-Valley-residents-try-to-help-themselves-13245805.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Co...
    - pteredactyl 8y ago
      Thanks. It came to me when I saw a Mom with kids get harassed by a crazy person on the sidewalk. Also there's a similar story in Bernal where a crazy person kept shitting in front of a school. But nobody could do anything about it (for fear of hysterical backlash). I can't find the article though.
      - selestify 8y ago
        What's the risk of a backlash actually occurring? Seems ridiculous.
        pteredactyl 8y ago
        That's a good point. I think there's this recent fear that someone will ruin your life with a well-written blog post. Something something privileged white male something something out of touch with mental health something something homeless issues I guess it comes down to not caring.
  - mindslight 8y ago
    > You are completely right about the fear of political fallout for wanting to uphold the law. The erosion of respect for the rule of law is a direct result of the attempt to use law to implement a top-down social design, chiefly the "war on drugs". With policing being a public good, those with the least means should appreciate police the most. But rather their communities were persecuted using the police, and so those communities were pushed into adopting an alternative view. Similarly, even mainstream society does not actually expect police to be helpful towards us but rather as a source of trouble to be avoided (eg speeding tickets). Given that public opinion cannot be directly changed, good initial steps to restoring public faith in the institution would be to eliminate invasive vice legislation, completely remove police from the enforcement of traffic regulations, as well as fully prosecuting criminals even when they're police officers.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  I was in SF recently. I heard Starbucks employees complaining about police inactivity in their conversations to each other.
masonic 8y ago
there is no way to prosecute these guys unless there is camera evidence ... and the original batch of "surveillance cameras" were nonfunctional dummies[0]. [0] https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Use-of-decoy-cameras-seems-to-set-BART-apart-6760101.php https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Use-of-decoy-cameras-se...

chaostheory 8y ago

I feel that surveillance in the form of Little Sister (https://medium.com/@chaostheory/little-sister-14bf095d3441 https://medium.com/@chaostheory/little-sister-14bf095d3441) will be even more prevalent if not ubiquitous. Decent megapixel cameras now can be bought for about $25. Between the crime that you mentioned and the rise of petty crimes such as package theft, many people are willingly putting Amazon's and Google's eyes both inside and outside of their homes.

nodesocket 8y ago

This ideology of inaction, or "nothing" we can do about it, is a phenomenon unique to the bay area. I used to live there, and it is one of the reasons I left. Criminal activity is not pursued, bad behavior is not penalized. I'm sure there are many reasons, but I suspect a big factor is that police and politicians are afraid of cracking down due to the political fallout and backlash. There is a palpable disdain for police officers there. The ironic thing is the people who are mostly likely voters and taxpayers are the ones who are fed up with the crime and leaving.

pteredactyl 8y ago
Yea I'm in SF not sure how long I'll last. It's a cess pool. Criminals have more rights than children. There was a crazy homeless guy who would shit everyday in front of a school in Bernal. The police couldn't do anything about it. You are completely right about the fear of political fallout for wanting to uphold the law. It's sad.
- diogenescynic 8y ago
  >Criminals have more rights than children. This is the most succinct way I’ve seen it explained and it’s 100% accurate. You’re also right about the fear of upholding the law. It’s sad AND ridiculous. A relevant article about another local offender cops just ignore: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Cole-Valley-residents-try-to-help-themselves-13245805.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Co...
  - pteredactyl 8y ago
    Thanks. It came to me when I saw a Mom with kids get harassed by a crazy person on the sidewalk. Also there's a similar story in Bernal where a crazy person kept shitting in front of a school. But nobody could do anything about it (for fear of hysterical backlash). I can't find the article though.
    - selestify 8y ago
      What's the risk of a backlash actually occurring? Seems ridiculous.
      - pteredactyl 8y ago
        That's a good point. I think there's this recent fear that someone will ruin your life with a well-written blog post. Something something privileged white male something something out of touch with mental health something something homeless issues I guess it comes down to not caring.
- mindslight 8y ago
  > You are completely right about the fear of political fallout for wanting to uphold the law. The erosion of respect for the rule of law is a direct result of the attempt to use law to implement a top-down social design, chiefly the "war on drugs". With policing being a public good, those with the least means should appreciate police the most. But rather their communities were persecuted using the police, and so those communities were pushed into adopting an alternative view. Similarly, even mainstream society does not actually expect police to be helpful towards us but rather as a source of trouble to be avoided (eg speeding tickets). Given that public opinion cannot be directly changed, good initial steps to restoring public faith in the institution would be to eliminate invasive vice legislation, completely remove police from the enforcement of traffic regulations, as well as fully prosecuting criminals even when they're police officers.
SamReidHughes 8y ago
I was in SF recently. I heard Starbucks employees complaining about police inactivity in their conversations to each other.

masonic 8y ago

there is no way to prosecute these guys unless there is camera evidence ... and the original batch of "surveillance cameras" were nonfunctional dummies[0]. [0] https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Use-of-decoy-cameras-seems-to-set-BART-apart-6760101.php https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Use-of-decoy-cameras-se...