7 ms·

San Francisco recorded a 753 percent rise in car burglaries compared to May 2020

77 points by sahin 5y ago

incrudible 5y ago
"They are up only 75% compared to 2019." Here lies buried: The lede.
- breitling 5y ago
  That is still a crazy number
  - incrudible 5y ago
    That's actually my point.
- zepto 5y ago
  “only” 75%
  - Retric 5y ago
    It’s just very noisy data.
p49k 5y ago
The title as written is clickbait, and false. Only the central district saw that increase, not “San Francisco,” and it was because there was a sharp drop from 2019 due to lockdown. Citywide car burglaries are actually down even from the much lower 2020 numbers despite easing of restrictions. From the article: “Citywide, however, the number of thefts from cars remains lower compared with last year, when shelter-in-place restrictions pushed car break-ins to record lows.”
- blondie9x 5y ago
  It is still happening and it's devastating for some who are impacted. https://www.gofundme.com/f/z2h9c4-help-my-sister https://www.gofundme.com/f/z2h9c4-help-my-sister
SkyPuncher 5y ago
Ah. Classic lying with data. Cherry pick an outlier and imply a general pattern. This is absolutely shameful journalism. * 2020 was clearly a minimum outlier because of the pandemic. * Citywide, May is down 10% from 2019. * Central District, is up from both 2019 and 2020. * This is a single month. Why not include April and June (months during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021). * Why has the author not also included the other districts? Is it because they paint a different story? That they're also down? The author clearly decided on a narrative, then cherry picked only the data that supported the narrative.
- ardit33 5y ago
  "They are up only 75% compared to 2019." Still, a 75% increase from 2019 is insane.... and SF was already the car break in capital of the us (when I lived there my neighbor's car got broken in a garage). And it is common to see shattered glass everywhere around SOMA and downtown. I live in NYC, and just feel much more safer here. Yet, NYC is about to elect a former cop, to fight crime even more. The mess in SF started with Gascon, and it doubled down with Boudin. You voted for it SF, own it. You vote stupid, you get stupid.
  - netizen-936824 5y ago
    You're completely ignoring the main point if OP, which is that it is NOT up. The presented data is an outlier and likely not statistically significant.
    - adam_arthur 5y ago
      Up 75% from 2019 in the central district is not a notable increase to you? Pretty sure SF was near the top of the list for property crime in 2019 already too. I lived in SOMA for 4 years and saw break-ins every single night with no police response. Not an exaggeration when I say every night. OP seems to be handwaving away this massive increase, unless he presents some data to show that May is indeed an outlier vs other months such as June
  - p49k 5y ago
DantesKite 5y ago
Even if the car burglaries are down, it doesn't do anything to alleviate the experience of people who have had their car broken into. There's clearly a problem. Not sure how you solve it though.
- itisit 5y ago
  Move out of SF
  - s3r3nity 5y ago
    "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas..."
    - bifrost 5y ago
      There are two groups working on recalling the DA, that should actually help TBH.
- gruez 5y ago
  repeal prop 47
- AtlasBarfed 5y ago
  Honeypots and vigilante justice? A sudden enthusiasm for the second amendment? I do think that racist street enforcement by the cops was effective at keeping down certain classes of crime. With BLM, the police are backing off of that. I absolutely think that modern policing can curb petty crime without racist brutality. I think drones and other surveillance based policing can work with proper constitutional powers/design and delegation to proper public institutions with legal charters. If it can't be done in California, well, things don't look good.
  - tomc1985 5y ago
    I heard a story about people putting small explosives charges in bikes and then leaving them out to be stolen, so that they explode when disassembled. It's a shame that setting traps like this is illegal, it did temporarily lower bike thefts in the area.
bifrost 5y ago
SF has sadly experienced a pretty meteoric rise in crime but one of the problems is the DA's office is underreporting so the actual number is much higher. A big part of the rise is California's Prop47, it passed and basically made any crime that cost less than $950 impossible to prosecute. Then SF's DA has also refused to prosecute a variety of other crimes that were previously prosecuted leading to SF becoming a hotspot. The joke is that "crime is legal in SF", and sadly thats basically true. I'm an SF native and I've never seen it this bad, its really awful.
- Graziano_M 5y ago
  Chesa really needs to be recalled.
- cronix 5y ago
  "Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act" https://www.courts.ca.gov/prop47.htm https://www.courts.ca.gov/prop47.htm > First, it reclassified certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Second, it authorizes defendants currently serving sentences for felony offenses that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to petition courts for resentencing under the new misdemeanor provisions. Third, it authorizes defendants who have completed their sentences for felony convictions that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to apply to reclassify those convictions to misdemeanors. What does any of that have to do with keeping schools or neighborhoods safe? It seems what it does is keep criminals safe. Keyword searching that bill for "school" or "neighborhood" yields 0 results, except the title of the bill.
  - tzs 5y ago
    > What does any of that have to do with keeping schools or neighborhoods safe? The FAQ linked to on the page you linked to states: > The stated purpose of the proposition is to “ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses, to maximize alternatives for non-serious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from [the proposition] into prevention and support programs in K-12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment” and to ensure “that sentences for people convicted of dangerous crimes like rape, murder, and child molestation are not changed.” The proposition states that it “shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes.” I have no idea if it has done any of those things. I'd expect it would be pretty hard to determine if it has actually led to any savings, let alone do so with enough specificity to invest them in school programs etc.
sfisthemoon 5y ago
A quote from the article: “It was pretty shocking,” she said, “because I don’t think of high crime in San Francisco, especially in a touristy area.” Every touristy part of SF -- Twin Peeks, Lands End, Hawk Hill, and on and on -- has signs warning that it's a "High Crime Area." These signs have existed forever. You'd have to be pretty ignorant of your surroundings to not know this fact.
- bifrost 5y ago
  Not really forever, no. There's been a concerted effort to put signs up in the last 12 months. There've been quite a few more robberies/shootings at Twin Peaks in the last 24 months, I live nearby and visit it regularly. A few months ago I found used needles, that was a first for me up there and I've been regularly biking to the top there for at least 10 years.
- dehrmann 5y ago
  The tourist parts of most cities are high crime. Singapore is probably OK.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    One of the few benefits of an authoritarian regime… usually they’re great at reducing crime. Of course it’s not the only way. While replicated almost no where else, Japan avoids crime while not being authoritarian. Group think becomes cultural identity, which has its own issues, but crime isn’t one of them.
    - Chris2048 5y ago
      > Japan avoids crime while not being authoritarian By essentially, maintaining a mono-culture; the opposite of multi-culturism.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  That's weird, when I was in SF a lot 13 years ago because of my sister studying at SFSU, she was constantly warning not to be flashy or have my wallet visible or even manipulate it in my pocket in a way that could be seen by others. No one's ever given me warnings like that elsewhere (though they are good advice) and I've been in cities that are dramatically and visually worse
ransom1538 5y ago
I lived in SF for 15 years. The worst area was near the tenderloin. The strangest day was street sweeping day. All the cars would be moved by 7am so you had a clear view down bush street. You could look down bush street and see 3-4 piles of glass on the ground from the previous night. Without street sweeping you would see just a few people crying by their hole in the window. Smash and grabs are truly the perfect crime in SF. The odds of finding a laptop in the trunk are quite high due to the techies. I, like most residents, cannot hear a car alarm anymore - at this point they help me sleep. It is impossible to get caught - even if you were - the odds of the DA prosecuting you are low. In someways I agree: what is the point of processing a person with a misdemeanor and letting them out in 2 hours without followup. Ironically, without smash and grabs things would be much worse. I would fear criminals would start hitting apartments. My apartment neighbor was violently assaulted and had her apartment ransacked (for a LAPTOP!). Every office I worked in SF was robbed at least once - no one was ever caught despite clear video. Thankfully, the DA does care about home invasions [I had detective interviews]. So my unpopular opinion is: if they are going to let the city decay into a crime ridden dystopia - leave smash and grabs alone. Let them break into cars. Insurance will cover the window - you can buy a new macbook pro. The next step of home invasions is much more terrifying. AND! With each smash and grab the victim will start voting correctly.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  Seattle is also seeing a huge rise in catalytic converter thefts, which they can sell for $1000. Organized criminals are quick to slip under a car (SUV/trucks preferred because of more ground clearance) and saw off the converter with a battery powered saw. Just another reason why I'm reluctant to go downtown anymore. P.S. when I moved to Seattle 40 years ago, the police were aggressive in going after shoplifters, and things were very different downtown.
  - sgt 5y ago
    Imagine if they welded on a pipe to ensure the owner wouldn't notice until the next check-up.
WalterBright 5y ago
Seattle also has this problem: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/caught-camera-seattle-store-burglarized-12-times-18-months/MORGDYO2UFGBVAVJXZ2LN3E3DY/ https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/caught-camera-seattle-store... and a few months back, Nordstrom had their store windows smashed out, windows that cost $50,000 each. What we'll see is a slow evolution of street level shops into fortresses with smaller windows with bars over them. Perhaps also locked doors with a gatekeeper who decides who gets in and who doesn't.
- sgt 5y ago
  Next time buy plexiglass
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  > Perhaps also locked doors with a gatekeeper who decides who gets in and who doesn't. That is risky from a legal standpoint due to various discrimination laws, but the less risky way is to relocate out to a suburban area where cars are required and transportation costs filter the possible customers to skew towards wealthier people. Or the stores can become membership only, or just shut them down and go online.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    I have a friend who has a store that was robbed repeatedly. He installed a vestibule like an airlock with two doors. On the wall were pictures of previous thieves, and a very obvious camera system. All customers coming in were remotely vetted. Cause trouble in the store, and your picture goes on the Wall Of Shame. He said it was very effective in reducing bad behavior. Back in the 70's when I'd frequent auto salvage yards, behind the front desk was a Wall of Shame covered in bad checks. You only got to try to pass a bad check once. I also wouldn't be surprised to see shopowners starting to share data about who the thieves are, and the thieves will find themselves denylisted.
    - TMWNN 5y ago
      >I have a friend who has a store that was robbed repeatedly. He installed a vestibule like an airlock with two doors. On the wall were pictures of previous thieves, and a very obvious camera system. All customers coming in were remotely vetted. Cause trouble in the store, and your picture goes on the Wall Of Shame. This is why stores in the ghetto have such systems for dealing with customers. It's not because their owners and employees like dealing with people through a tiny bank teller-like hole. It's from painful experience. (Same goes for why certain items are locked up, only retrievable by an employee, in drugstore chains' outlets in certain locations but not elsewhere.)

77 points by sahin 5y ago

incrudible 5y ago

"They are up only 75% compared to 2019." Here lies buried: The lede.

breitling 5y ago
That is still a crazy number
- incrudible 5y ago
  That's actually my point.
zepto 5y ago
“only” 75%
- Retric 5y ago
  It’s just very noisy data.

p49k 5y ago

The title as written is clickbait, and false. Only the central district saw that increase, not “San Francisco,” and it was because there was a sharp drop from 2019 due to lockdown. Citywide car burglaries are actually down even from the much lower 2020 numbers despite easing of restrictions. From the article: “Citywide, however, the number of thefts from cars remains lower compared with last year, when shelter-in-place restrictions pushed car break-ins to record lows.”

blondie9x 5y ago
It is still happening and it's devastating for some who are impacted. https://www.gofundme.com/f/z2h9c4-help-my-sister https://www.gofundme.com/f/z2h9c4-help-my-sister

SkyPuncher 5y ago

Ah. Classic lying with data. Cherry pick an outlier and imply a general pattern. This is absolutely shameful journalism. * 2020 was clearly a minimum outlier because of the pandemic. * Citywide, May is down 10% from 2019. * Central District, is up from both 2019 and 2020. * This is a single month. Why not include April and June (months during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021). * Why has the author not also included the other districts? Is it because they paint a different story? That they're also down? The author clearly decided on a narrative, then cherry picked only the data that supported the narrative.

ardit33 5y ago
"They are up only 75% compared to 2019." Still, a 75% increase from 2019 is insane.... and SF was already the car break in capital of the us (when I lived there my neighbor's car got broken in a garage). And it is common to see shattered glass everywhere around SOMA and downtown. I live in NYC, and just feel much more safer here. Yet, NYC is about to elect a former cop, to fight crime even more. The mess in SF started with Gascon, and it doubled down with Boudin. You voted for it SF, own it. You vote stupid, you get stupid.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  You're completely ignoring the main point if OP, which is that it is NOT up. The presented data is an outlier and likely not statistically significant.
  - adam_arthur 5y ago
    Up 75% from 2019 in the central district is not a notable increase to you? Pretty sure SF was near the top of the list for property crime in 2019 already too. I lived in SOMA for 4 years and saw break-ins every single night with no police response. Not an exaggeration when I say every night. OP seems to be handwaving away this massive increase, unless he presents some data to show that May is indeed an outlier vs other months such as June
- p49k 5y ago

DantesKite 5y ago

Even if the car burglaries are down, it doesn't do anything to alleviate the experience of people who have had their car broken into. There's clearly a problem. Not sure how you solve it though.

itisit 5y ago
Move out of SF
- s3r3nity 5y ago
  "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas..."
  - bifrost 5y ago
    There are two groups working on recalling the DA, that should actually help TBH.
gruez 5y ago
repeal prop 47
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Honeypots and vigilante justice? A sudden enthusiasm for the second amendment? I do think that racist street enforcement by the cops was effective at keeping down certain classes of crime. With BLM, the police are backing off of that. I absolutely think that modern policing can curb petty crime without racist brutality. I think drones and other surveillance based policing can work with proper constitutional powers/design and delegation to proper public institutions with legal charters. If it can't be done in California, well, things don't look good.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  I heard a story about people putting small explosives charges in bikes and then leaving them out to be stolen, so that they explode when disassembled. It's a shame that setting traps like this is illegal, it did temporarily lower bike thefts in the area.

bifrost 5y ago

SF has sadly experienced a pretty meteoric rise in crime but one of the problems is the DA's office is underreporting so the actual number is much higher. A big part of the rise is California's Prop47, it passed and basically made any crime that cost less than $950 impossible to prosecute. Then SF's DA has also refused to prosecute a variety of other crimes that were previously prosecuted leading to SF becoming a hotspot. The joke is that "crime is legal in SF", and sadly thats basically true. I'm an SF native and I've never seen it this bad, its really awful.

Graziano_M 5y ago
Chesa really needs to be recalled.
cronix 5y ago
"Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act" https://www.courts.ca.gov/prop47.htm https://www.courts.ca.gov/prop47.htm > First, it reclassified certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Second, it authorizes defendants currently serving sentences for felony offenses that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to petition courts for resentencing under the new misdemeanor provisions. Third, it authorizes defendants who have completed their sentences for felony convictions that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to apply to reclassify those convictions to misdemeanors. What does any of that have to do with keeping schools or neighborhoods safe? It seems what it does is keep criminals safe. Keyword searching that bill for "school" or "neighborhood" yields 0 results, except the title of the bill.
- tzs 5y ago
  > What does any of that have to do with keeping schools or neighborhoods safe? The FAQ linked to on the page you linked to states: > The stated purpose of the proposition is to “ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses, to maximize alternatives for non-serious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from [the proposition] into prevention and support programs in K-12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment” and to ensure “that sentences for people convicted of dangerous crimes like rape, murder, and child molestation are not changed.” The proposition states that it “shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes.” I have no idea if it has done any of those things. I'd expect it would be pretty hard to determine if it has actually led to any savings, let alone do so with enough specificity to invest them in school programs etc.

sfisthemoon 5y ago

A quote from the article: “It was pretty shocking,” she said, “because I don’t think of high crime in San Francisco, especially in a touristy area.” Every touristy part of SF -- Twin Peeks, Lands End, Hawk Hill, and on and on -- has signs warning that it's a "High Crime Area." These signs have existed forever. You'd have to be pretty ignorant of your surroundings to not know this fact.

bifrost 5y ago
Not really forever, no. There's been a concerted effort to put signs up in the last 12 months. There've been quite a few more robberies/shootings at Twin Peaks in the last 24 months, I live nearby and visit it regularly. A few months ago I found used needles, that was a first for me up there and I've been regularly biking to the top there for at least 10 years.
dehrmann 5y ago
The tourist parts of most cities are high crime. Singapore is probably OK.
- azinman2 5y ago
  One of the few benefits of an authoritarian regime… usually they’re great at reducing crime. Of course it’s not the only way. While replicated almost no where else, Japan avoids crime while not being authoritarian. Group think becomes cultural identity, which has its own issues, but crime isn’t one of them.
  - Chris2048 5y ago
    > Japan avoids crime while not being authoritarian By essentially, maintaining a mono-culture; the opposite of multi-culturism.
tomc1985 5y ago
That's weird, when I was in SF a lot 13 years ago because of my sister studying at SFSU, she was constantly warning not to be flashy or have my wallet visible or even manipulate it in my pocket in a way that could be seen by others. No one's ever given me warnings like that elsewhere (though they are good advice) and I've been in cities that are dramatically and visually worse

ransom1538 5y ago

I lived in SF for 15 years. The worst area was near the tenderloin. The strangest day was street sweeping day. All the cars would be moved by 7am so you had a clear view down bush street. You could look down bush street and see 3-4 piles of glass on the ground from the previous night. Without street sweeping you would see just a few people crying by their hole in the window. Smash and grabs are truly the perfect crime in SF. The odds of finding a laptop in the trunk are quite high due to the techies. I, like most residents, cannot hear a car alarm anymore - at this point they help me sleep. It is impossible to get caught - even if you were - the odds of the DA prosecuting you are low. In someways I agree: what is the point of processing a person with a misdemeanor and letting them out in 2 hours without followup. Ironically, without smash and grabs things would be much worse. I would fear criminals would start hitting apartments. My apartment neighbor was violently assaulted and had her apartment ransacked (for a LAPTOP!). Every office I worked in SF was robbed at least once - no one was ever caught despite clear video. Thankfully, the DA does care about home invasions [I had detective interviews]. So my unpopular opinion is: if they are going to let the city decay into a crime ridden dystopia - leave smash and grabs alone. Let them break into cars. Insurance will cover the window - you can buy a new macbook pro. The next step of home invasions is much more terrifying. AND! With each smash and grab the victim will start voting correctly.

WalterBright 5y ago
Seattle is also seeing a huge rise in catalytic converter thefts, which they can sell for $1000. Organized criminals are quick to slip under a car (SUV/trucks preferred because of more ground clearance) and saw off the converter with a battery powered saw. Just another reason why I'm reluctant to go downtown anymore. P.S. when I moved to Seattle 40 years ago, the police were aggressive in going after shoplifters, and things were very different downtown.
- sgt 5y ago
  Imagine if they welded on a pipe to ensure the owner wouldn't notice until the next check-up.

WalterBright 5y ago

Seattle also has this problem: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/caught-camera-seattle-store-burglarized-12-times-18-months/MORGDYO2UFGBVAVJXZ2LN3E3DY/ https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/caught-camera-seattle-store... and a few months back, Nordstrom had their store windows smashed out, windows that cost $50,000 each. What we'll see is a slow evolution of street level shops into fortresses with smaller windows with bars over them. Perhaps also locked doors with a gatekeeper who decides who gets in and who doesn't.

sgt 5y ago
Next time buy plexiglass
lotsofpulp 5y ago
> Perhaps also locked doors with a gatekeeper who decides who gets in and who doesn't. That is risky from a legal standpoint due to various discrimination laws, but the less risky way is to relocate out to a suburban area where cars are required and transportation costs filter the possible customers to skew towards wealthier people. Or the stores can become membership only, or just shut them down and go online.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  I have a friend who has a store that was robbed repeatedly. He installed a vestibule like an airlock with two doors. On the wall were pictures of previous thieves, and a very obvious camera system. All customers coming in were remotely vetted. Cause trouble in the store, and your picture goes on the Wall Of Shame. He said it was very effective in reducing bad behavior. Back in the 70's when I'd frequent auto salvage yards, behind the front desk was a Wall of Shame covered in bad checks. You only got to try to pass a bad check once. I also wouldn't be surprised to see shopowners starting to share data about who the thieves are, and the thieves will find themselves denylisted.
  - TMWNN 5y ago
    >I have a friend who has a store that was robbed repeatedly. He installed a vestibule like an airlock with two doors. On the wall were pictures of previous thieves, and a very obvious camera system. All customers coming in were remotely vetted. Cause trouble in the store, and your picture goes on the Wall Of Shame. This is why stores in the ghetto have such systems for dealing with customers. It's not because their owners and employees like dealing with people through a tiny bank teller-like hole. It's from painful experience. (Same goes for why certain items are locked up, only retrievable by an employee, in drugstore chains' outlets in certain locations but not elsewhere.)