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To be clear: are you claiming that the official crime rate is artificially low in SF in general, or specifically under Boudin? For all types of crimes, or just
by less_less 4y ago
To be clear: are you claiming that the official crime rate is artificially low in SF in general, or specifically under Boudin? For all types of crimes, or just property crimes? And do you have a source for any of this? (I understand that official stats will not be a source for a claim that the official stats are lies, but is there something beyond speculation?)
I personally have my doubts. Boudin said he would shift emphasis away from prosecuting individual petty crimes, where the perpetrator would just be out on the street again anyway due to overcrowded prisons, but would still prosecute violent crimes and organized crime. So you would expect reporting rates of violent crimes to be about the same as before, and indeed violent crimes in SF are following trends in other US cities, with a moderate uptick in murder but other violent crime at historic lows.
For petty crimes like car breakins and bike theft, the police weren't going to solve this anyway unless it happened directly in front of them. The nationwide clearance rate for such crimes (of the ones people even bother to report) is like 15% or less. People don't report these crimes in hopes of someone getting prosecuted, they report them because their insurance policies require it, and that didn't change under Boudin.