4 ms·

Sf police don’t give a shit about stolen bikes. I saw a homeless guy pick up a bike (wheel locked to frame) prop it on a shopping cart and run away. Called the

Sf police don’t give a shit about stolen bikes. I saw a homeless guy pick up a bike (wheel locked to frame) prop it on a shopping cart and run away. Called the cops. They didn’t give a shit, belittled me and refused to come. You’ll note in the article that it’s impossible to get the police to show up even when there’s known stolen property inside and clear gps evidence. sfpd doesn’t do anything about anything. Check out that great video of the cops rolling up on a burglary in progress. Perp comes out the door, gets in car and drives off. Cops do nothing. When vigilantism is the only justice available you’re living in a failed state.

pessimizer 4y ago
Then you've been living in a failed state all of your life. The cops would only have ever gone out for that call in a sleepy wealthy suburb, and even then only if the cops personally knew the person who called in.
exabrial 4y ago
> vigilantism Cops and the city council WILL retaliate against you though for embarrassing them.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  Depending on the type of vigilantism, that could be the most reasonable move.
corrral 4y ago
Not just SF, and not just bikes. My experience is that cops don't give a shit about any theft unless it happens right in front of them. No amount of evidence you can hand them will convince them to spend so much as a minute investigating.
edm0nd 4y ago
anewpersonality 4y ago
SF police don't care period. It's a corrupt organization that simply exists to steal funds from the state. It needs to be burnt to the ground and re-created. https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/t2u3fq/guy_in_the_red_trading_a_bike_for_fentanyl_sorry/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/t2u3fq/guy_in...
- Gibbon1 4y ago
  You are correct. As a rule SF police do not live in San Francisco. So it's just a cash cow to them.
- bluGill 4y ago
  Make sure you tell your city representative. City level elections are generally easy to change if you put in effort to knock on doors.
- slaymaker1907 4y ago
  It sounds like a very similar situation to Seattle. While living there, it was remarkable to me how useless and/or hostile the police felt compared to the police in other cities. I've been threatened multiple times while going home late at night and it was never the police that actually helped. I'm convinced we really need to get better at helping each other as a community rather than relying primarily on the police.
  - carbadtraingood 4y ago
    Seattle Police Department is terrible, but still the city keeps trying to give them more funding.
    - astrange 4y ago
      Giving it less funding won't make it better, nor would it magically make something else appear. You'd need more funding to have a program like "actually firing them if they don't do their jobs".
  - 4y ago
vkou 4y ago
> When vigilantism is the only justice available you’re living in a failed state. What you're observing isn't a 'failed state'. The apparatus of the state is working quite fine, and the state is completely capable of enforcing its will on its subjects. [1] What you're observing is the police doing their job[2] (Which is protecting the state), and not the job you want them to do (protecting you and yours.) [1] The definition of a failed state is one that is incapable of enforcing its will on its subjects. Which is what you see in, say, 2021 Afghanistan, where the central government is only theoretically in charge, with Taliban rebels actually being able to enforce their will on the country. There's a categorical difference between 'can't' and 'can't be arsed to' - and you're observing the latter. [2] Why doing that job entitles them to half of your municipal taxes is an exercise for the reader.
- carbadtraingood 4y ago
  Don't know why you are downvoted, you're 100% correct. Police do not exist to help individuals, they exist to maintain the state monopoly on violence and to protect capital. If individuals get any benefit from this it's either accidental or police trying to protect their image.
  - astrange 4y ago
    The anecdote above is about police not "protecting capital", stopping a store robber is "protecting capital" as opposed to "helping individuals".
- mmmpop 4y ago
  I thought we lived in a democracy, aren't rulers also subjects???
uoaei 4y ago
Remember this when people say Chesa Boudin was the cause of the spike in crime. In reality, police departments went on effective strike, enforcing only the policies they wanted to, and leaving many cases open so as to provide statistics for bad faith actors to smear the reputation of the DA who has no actual control over the police. This disturbed local populations, but those people were quick to blame "criminals" because there seems to be an infinite fount of good faith assumptions reserved for police, even in the face of so much evidence of how bad they are at their jobs (willingly or otherwise).
- hackernewds 4y ago
  Chesa definitely made it much much worse since it was plain policy. Hundreds of small business places got robbed, not just by established thugs, but by opportunists. Why wouldn't they, when the city declares they won't prosecute robberies <$600?
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    The statistics don't bear that out. You were convinced by a PR campaign that publicized crime and associated Boudin with it, not an actual rise in crime.
    - stass 4y ago
      There was an actual rise in crime, both perceived and statistical, immediately after he was elected. Hell, Boudin ran on a campaign that people like his terrorist parents should not be prosecuted. It's a well documented fact that Boudin refused to prosecute pretty much anything besides police officers. Why would police officers arrest anybody in that case? It's the same story with other Soros-funded prosecutors: Gascon in LA, Kim Foxx in Chicago. To give them credit, they don't hide that their own goal is to protect criminals. People should listen.
      - uoaei 4y ago
        Love to see Soros come up. Very clear where you spend your time online.
walrus01 4y ago
> sfpd doesn’t do anything about anything sounds like vancouver police sounds like seattle police unless you're literally engaged in a gunfight with lead flying around their response is terrible.
- ook 4y ago
  > sounds like vancouver police We had 4 bikes stolen from our shed in Vancouver and the police were helpful. We called the non emergency number and an officer followed up quickly via email, sent a case number for insurance claims and one of the bikes was returned a few days later on a Sunday evening from a chop shop bust. They even have a dedicated bike theft officer - https://www.macleans.ca/society/meet-canadas-only-full-time-bike-theft-detective/ https://www.macleans.ca/society/meet-canadas-only-full-time-...
  - yomkippur 4y ago
    so that's 4 bikes out of the thousands that get chopped up or show up in DTES tent marketplace.

pessimizer 4y ago

Then you've been living in a failed state all of your life. The cops would only have ever gone out for that call in a sleepy wealthy suburb, and even then only if the cops personally knew the person who called in.

exabrial 4y ago

> vigilantism Cops and the city council WILL retaliate against you though for embarrassing them.

bee_rider 4y ago
Depending on the type of vigilantism, that could be the most reasonable move.

corrral 4y ago

Not just SF, and not just bikes. My experience is that cops don't give a shit about any theft unless it happens right in front of them. No amount of evidence you can hand them will convince them to spend so much as a minute investigating.

edm0nd 4y ago

anewpersonality 4y ago

SF police don't care period. It's a corrupt organization that simply exists to steal funds from the state. It needs to be burnt to the ground and re-created. https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/t2u3fq/guy_in_the_red_trading_a_bike_for_fentanyl_sorry/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/t2u3fq/guy_in...

Gibbon1 4y ago
You are correct. As a rule SF police do not live in San Francisco. So it's just a cash cow to them.
bluGill 4y ago
Make sure you tell your city representative. City level elections are generally easy to change if you put in effort to knock on doors.
slaymaker1907 4y ago
It sounds like a very similar situation to Seattle. While living there, it was remarkable to me how useless and/or hostile the police felt compared to the police in other cities. I've been threatened multiple times while going home late at night and it was never the police that actually helped. I'm convinced we really need to get better at helping each other as a community rather than relying primarily on the police.
- carbadtraingood 4y ago
  Seattle Police Department is terrible, but still the city keeps trying to give them more funding.
  - astrange 4y ago
    Giving it less funding won't make it better, nor would it magically make something else appear. You'd need more funding to have a program like "actually firing them if they don't do their jobs".
- 4y ago

vkou 4y ago

> When vigilantism is the only justice available you’re living in a failed state. What you're observing isn't a 'failed state'. The apparatus of the state is working quite fine, and the state is completely capable of enforcing its will on its subjects. [1] What you're observing is the police doing their job[2] (Which is protecting the state), and not the job you want them to do (protecting you and yours.) [1] The definition of a failed state is one that is incapable of enforcing its will on its subjects. Which is what you see in, say, 2021 Afghanistan, where the central government is only theoretically in charge, with Taliban rebels actually being able to enforce their will on the country. There's a categorical difference between 'can't' and 'can't be arsed to' - and you're observing the latter. [2] Why doing that job entitles them to half of your municipal taxes is an exercise for the reader.

carbadtraingood 4y ago
Don't know why you are downvoted, you're 100% correct. Police do not exist to help individuals, they exist to maintain the state monopoly on violence and to protect capital. If individuals get any benefit from this it's either accidental or police trying to protect their image.
- astrange 4y ago
  The anecdote above is about police not "protecting capital", stopping a store robber is "protecting capital" as opposed to "helping individuals".
mmmpop 4y ago
I thought we lived in a democracy, aren't rulers also subjects???

uoaei 4y ago

Remember this when people say Chesa Boudin was the cause of the spike in crime. In reality, police departments went on effective strike, enforcing only the policies they wanted to, and leaving many cases open so as to provide statistics for bad faith actors to smear the reputation of the DA who has no actual control over the police. This disturbed local populations, but those people were quick to blame "criminals" because there seems to be an infinite fount of good faith assumptions reserved for police, even in the face of so much evidence of how bad they are at their jobs (willingly or otherwise).

hackernewds 4y ago
Chesa definitely made it much much worse since it was plain policy. Hundreds of small business places got robbed, not just by established thugs, but by opportunists. Why wouldn't they, when the city declares they won't prosecute robberies <$600?
- pessimizer 4y ago
  The statistics don't bear that out. You were convinced by a PR campaign that publicized crime and associated Boudin with it, not an actual rise in crime.
  - stass 4y ago
    There was an actual rise in crime, both perceived and statistical, immediately after he was elected. Hell, Boudin ran on a campaign that people like his terrorist parents should not be prosecuted. It's a well documented fact that Boudin refused to prosecute pretty much anything besides police officers. Why would police officers arrest anybody in that case? It's the same story with other Soros-funded prosecutors: Gascon in LA, Kim Foxx in Chicago. To give them credit, they don't hide that their own goal is to protect criminals. People should listen.
    - uoaei 4y ago
      Love to see Soros come up. Very clear where you spend your time online.

walrus01 4y ago

> sfpd doesn’t do anything about anything sounds like vancouver police sounds like seattle police unless you're literally engaged in a gunfight with lead flying around their response is terrible.

ook 4y ago
> sounds like vancouver police We had 4 bikes stolen from our shed in Vancouver and the police were helpful. We called the non emergency number and an officer followed up quickly via email, sent a case number for insurance claims and one of the bikes was returned a few days later on a Sunday evening from a chop shop bust. They even have a dedicated bike theft officer - https://www.macleans.ca/society/meet-canadas-only-full-time-bike-theft-detective/ https://www.macleans.ca/society/meet-canadas-only-full-time-...
- yomkippur 4y ago
  so that's 4 bikes out of the thousands that get chopped up or show up in DTES tent marketplace.