4 ms·

Reading this headline I thought to myself, this can't be possible. But then I remembered I got two packages stolen in two different neighborhood of the city, an

by baby 4y ago

Reading this headline I thought to myself, this can't be possible. But then I remembered I got two packages stolen in two different neighborhood of the city, and during NYE someone broke the door of the backyard to probably see what they could steal there.

cgb223 4y ago
I thought the same thing then remembered that my car has been smash and grabbed not once, but twice
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > then remembered that my car has been smash and grabbed not once, but twice A friend in San Francisco casually mentioned their car getting broken into. The normalization is funny when one recognizes it.
- dpe82 4y ago
  Ditto. First time I reported it but never heard anything back from the police. Second time I didn't even bother.
  - icelancer 4y ago
    This is how crime stats "not increasing" end up happening, because we don't report it since it's a waste of time. I'm not blaming you, I don't report 100% of the incidents I deal with in the inner-city of Seattle (something happens every quarter without fail), but unfortunately it depresses the actual crime rates that are occurring every day.
    - fhsm 4y ago
      https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/chicago-crime-statistics/chicago-crime-rates/ https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/chicago-crime-st... The best documentation of this I know of is from Chicago about 10 years ago. The above was the first article by the journalist I associate with it.
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> Reading this headline I thought to myself, this can't be possible. But then I remembered It's funny, this is exactly what happens when I talk to my SF friends about crime. They have an immediate defensive reaction to insist it's not that bad, but then they slowly start recalling various crime experiences they've had in the past year. It's as if the constant background level of crime has reset their expectations of what's bad and what's normal.
- galangalalgol 4y ago
  My response was "only half?". Seriously, isn't this true everywhere? I've jad things stolen in small towns and in big cities that are "tough on crime" and have citizens that vote for that. Theft is just part of life right? If I've just lived in bad places, where would one suggest that most people don't experience theft?
  - pempem 4y ago
    I can see how you might think that, but no. Have lived in LA, Santa Cruz, SJ, SF, DC, New York and PA. SF is the only city where I have had my car broken into and all of my things stolen. Told the police I found literally at the Starbucks two parking spots away from my car and they legit declined to look into it.
    - cafard 4y ago
      I live in Washington, DC, in a quiet neighborhood. The most frequent victims of theft are not residents, but workers: maids, contractors, landscape crews, almost invariably from cars or trucks. The police do show up and take reports, but I don't know how often anyone is arrested. In Denver, when I worked for a neighborhood paper briefly ca. 1980, one of my jobs was to check the blotter at the local precinct. I discovered that the Denver police kept two lists: one for burglaries, one for all else. My recollection is that there were usually a dozen or so burglaries each week.
  - sebmellen 4y ago
    FWIW, I never experienced any theft when living in Switzerland, Germany, or Pittsburgh, and only one minor theft while living in San Diego (a nice pair of garden clippers).
mistersys 4y ago
I also thought this. But then I remembered I had a $700 bike stolen from my hotel when I stayed in SF for 2 days. Checks out.
williamcotton 4y ago
My bike was stolen out of my garage in the Mission in 2014…
robswc 4y ago
As someone that's never been a victim of theft, that's wild and I feel like it would just ruin things for quite awhile. I had what I assume was a drunk person, try to get into my apartment once. Not something that should be too scary but I felt uneasy for some time after that. I'd be out wiring the house like ft. knox the next day, if that happened to me haha.
- galangalalgol 4y ago
  Without doxing yourself can you give a general idea where this place is? Do you know lots of people that have experienced theft and you are just lucky, or is it unusual? I don't think I even know anyone who hasn't had packages stolen or a car broken into or stuff taken from their yard at least. One guy where I used to live went in to get some water while mowing his front yard and came back as people drove away with his lawnmower in the bed of their truck. I think he got that one back and they got the theives.
  - derekbaker783 4y ago
    I've lived in several small towns in upstate New York where it's very common to leave vehicles and dwellings unlocked.
  - shigawire 4y ago
    Non-big city Wisconsin - I know people who never lock their doors.
  - BoorishBears 4y ago
    I've lived in NYC, SF, RDU, Hartford and New Haven (CT), all places that the news would paint as practically ruled by crime, but I've never experienced theft. I lock my doors and keep my car clean and that's been enough. Despite all the stories in this thread, me and my neighbors here in SF leave our cars out and haven't hade break ins. Even the $100,000 convertible with a soft top parked outside our place most nights hasn't been bothered in the year I've lived here, and I live in NOPA, so not exactly the outskirts. I think the saying "crime doesn't travel up hill" is very real in SF
  - 4y ago
codazoda 4y ago
I thought the opposite. How can this not be at least a nationwide, if not worldwide reality? I live in the suburbs of Northern Utah. I’ve had bikes stolen from my yard, items stolen from my truck, money stolen from my wife’s purse, and those are just the one’s I can think of. We probably create millions of little opportunities in our lifetimes. A phone left unattended for a moment, neglecting to lock your car, leaving a bag while you use a restroom, not locking windows, you get the idea.
- RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 4y ago
  > How can this not be at least a nationwide, if not worldwide reality? It is certainly not worldwide. Take Japan for instance. Your stuff[0] left in the open will almost never be taken. And in the event they went missing, there's a good chance it's because someone took them to the nearest police box. [0] Umbrellas on rainy days are notable exceptions. But they're so cheap (a few dollars) many consider them "communal" items.
  - mbetg6 4y ago
    You can’t have that and diversity.
    - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
      You can't have that with young people and inequality is likely closer to the truth. https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-demographics-contribute-to-crime.html https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-demographics-contribute...
  - smukherjee19 4y ago
    Second this. There's also kind of an unspoken rule among the people here: if something is left on the road where it might be spoiled or destroyed, (and is not valuable of course), things are moved to the sidewalk so the owner can find them easily and/or are not destroyed by careless passers-by. I have seen a handkerchief that was tied to the railing at eye-level, so that the owner could find it easily when they came back to look for it. If the thing in question is valuable (like wallets, cellphones), it will most likely be deposited to the nearest police box where they will hold on to it for a while.

by baby 4y ago

cgb223 4y ago

I thought the same thing then remembered that my car has been smash and grabbed not once, but twice

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> then remembered that my car has been smash and grabbed not once, but twice A friend in San Francisco casually mentioned their car getting broken into. The normalization is funny when one recognizes it.
dpe82 4y ago
Ditto. First time I reported it but never heard anything back from the police. Second time I didn't even bother.
- icelancer 4y ago
  This is how crime stats "not increasing" end up happening, because we don't report it since it's a waste of time. I'm not blaming you, I don't report 100% of the incidents I deal with in the inner-city of Seattle (something happens every quarter without fail), but unfortunately it depresses the actual crime rates that are occurring every day.
  - fhsm 4y ago
    https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/chicago-crime-statistics/chicago-crime-rates/ https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/chicago-crime-st... The best documentation of this I know of is from Chicago about 10 years ago. The above was the first article by the journalist I associate with it.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> Reading this headline I thought to myself, this can't be possible. But then I remembered It's funny, this is exactly what happens when I talk to my SF friends about crime. They have an immediate defensive reaction to insist it's not that bad, but then they slowly start recalling various crime experiences they've had in the past year. It's as if the constant background level of crime has reset their expectations of what's bad and what's normal.

galangalalgol 4y ago
My response was "only half?". Seriously, isn't this true everywhere? I've jad things stolen in small towns and in big cities that are "tough on crime" and have citizens that vote for that. Theft is just part of life right? If I've just lived in bad places, where would one suggest that most people don't experience theft?
- pempem 4y ago
  I can see how you might think that, but no. Have lived in LA, Santa Cruz, SJ, SF, DC, New York and PA. SF is the only city where I have had my car broken into and all of my things stolen. Told the police I found literally at the Starbucks two parking spots away from my car and they legit declined to look into it.
  - cafard 4y ago
    I live in Washington, DC, in a quiet neighborhood. The most frequent victims of theft are not residents, but workers: maids, contractors, landscape crews, almost invariably from cars or trucks. The police do show up and take reports, but I don't know how often anyone is arrested. In Denver, when I worked for a neighborhood paper briefly ca. 1980, one of my jobs was to check the blotter at the local precinct. I discovered that the Denver police kept two lists: one for burglaries, one for all else. My recollection is that there were usually a dozen or so burglaries each week.
- sebmellen 4y ago
  FWIW, I never experienced any theft when living in Switzerland, Germany, or Pittsburgh, and only one minor theft while living in San Diego (a nice pair of garden clippers).

mistersys 4y ago

I also thought this. But then I remembered I had a $700 bike stolen from my hotel when I stayed in SF for 2 days. Checks out.

williamcotton 4y ago

My bike was stolen out of my garage in the Mission in 2014…

robswc 4y ago

As someone that's never been a victim of theft, that's wild and I feel like it would just ruin things for quite awhile. I had what I assume was a drunk person, try to get into my apartment once. Not something that should be too scary but I felt uneasy for some time after that. I'd be out wiring the house like ft. knox the next day, if that happened to me haha.

galangalalgol 4y ago
Without doxing yourself can you give a general idea where this place is? Do you know lots of people that have experienced theft and you are just lucky, or is it unusual? I don't think I even know anyone who hasn't had packages stolen or a car broken into or stuff taken from their yard at least. One guy where I used to live went in to get some water while mowing his front yard and came back as people drove away with his lawnmower in the bed of their truck. I think he got that one back and they got the theives.
- derekbaker783 4y ago
  I've lived in several small towns in upstate New York where it's very common to leave vehicles and dwellings unlocked.
- shigawire 4y ago
  Non-big city Wisconsin - I know people who never lock their doors.
- BoorishBears 4y ago
  I've lived in NYC, SF, RDU, Hartford and New Haven (CT), all places that the news would paint as practically ruled by crime, but I've never experienced theft. I lock my doors and keep my car clean and that's been enough. Despite all the stories in this thread, me and my neighbors here in SF leave our cars out and haven't hade break ins. Even the $100,000 convertible with a soft top parked outside our place most nights hasn't been bothered in the year I've lived here, and I live in NOPA, so not exactly the outskirts. I think the saying "crime doesn't travel up hill" is very real in SF
- 4y ago

codazoda 4y ago

I thought the opposite. How can this not be at least a nationwide, if not worldwide reality? I live in the suburbs of Northern Utah. I’ve had bikes stolen from my yard, items stolen from my truck, money stolen from my wife’s purse, and those are just the one’s I can think of. We probably create millions of little opportunities in our lifetimes. A phone left unattended for a moment, neglecting to lock your car, leaving a bag while you use a restroom, not locking windows, you get the idea.

RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 4y ago
> How can this not be at least a nationwide, if not worldwide reality? It is certainly not worldwide. Take Japan for instance. Your stuff[0] left in the open will almost never be taken. And in the event they went missing, there's a good chance it's because someone took them to the nearest police box. [0] Umbrellas on rainy days are notable exceptions. But they're so cheap (a few dollars) many consider them "communal" items.
- mbetg6 4y ago
  You can’t have that and diversity.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    You can't have that with young people and inequality is likely closer to the truth. https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-demographics-contribute-to-crime.html https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-demographics-contribute...
- smukherjee19 4y ago
  Second this. There's also kind of an unspoken rule among the people here: if something is left on the road where it might be spoiled or destroyed, (and is not valuable of course), things are moved to the sidewalk so the owner can find them easily and/or are not destroyed by careless passers-by. I have seen a handkerchief that was tied to the railing at eye-level, so that the owner could find it easily when they came back to look for it. If the thing in question is valuable (like wallets, cellphones), it will most likely be deposited to the nearest police box where they will hold on to it for a while.