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This is really up to the prosecutors, not the cops. They tell the cops "we are not charging people for doing X," so the cops don't arrest anyone for X. At lea

This is really up to the prosecutors, not the cops. They tell the cops "we are not charging people for doing X," so the cops don't arrest anyone for X. At least in NYC and SF, there are written statements from the DA's office to this effect.

kalkin 4y ago
Can you provide a link to these statements? How old are they? FWIW I don't live in SF but I've had a couple of car break-ins and I don't even remember if I reported them; it was a formality for insurance purposes if so and I never expected nor saw evidence of any police follow up. Are there cities where that's different?
- Spooky23 4y ago
  NYC: > “Bragg said the office will stop prosecuting people for theft of services, trespassing (unless it accompanies a stalking charge), aggravated unlicensed operation, routine traffic violations not accompanied by felony charges, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, and prostitution.“ https://gothamist.com/news/manhattan-da-bragg-tells-staff-stop-prosecuting-certain-offenses https://gothamist.com/news/manhattan-da-bragg-tells-staff-st... The Manhattan DA subsequently claimed to roll back the policy, but they are still not interested in prosecuting. I travel to NYC on business regularly, and I’ve seen 6/6 times in the last 8 months people at various stations openly evading Subway fares. In one case, a dude was holding a gate open and yelling at people to come through and not bother paying - with 2 NYPD sitting there talking about 10 feet away. In my small upstate city, they’ll only even pretend to investigate a burglary. We have issues with people partying (drinking, smoking weed, having sex, eating and dumping trash in the street) in cars in nice neighborhoods. We have muggings, car thefts, robberies, etc like never before. The cops shrug, as their operating orders prevent them from doing anything. The “progressive” governance model is to suck up to activists to get the campaign cash. Activists want the cops to stand down to street crime. Ultimately the people who live on the wrong side of the tracks suffer. It’s gross.
  - atyppo 4y ago
    Not that Bragg is any good, but turnstile hopping has been happening long before Bragg. Perhaps it’s gotten worse - I don’t have any data
  - jacobolus 4y ago
    > openly evading Subway fares Nobody has ever cared about this (nor should they, IMO; disclaimer: I have never lived in NYC). Occasionally journalists go to NYC to interview random residents about fare evasion, and the main response is a shrug. Frankly, we’d all be generally better off with free public transit. Governments end up paying most of the bill anyway, and increasing transit use would be a big benefit to those most needing help.
    - barry-cotter 4y ago
      > Frankly, we’d all be generally better off with free public transit. Governments end up paying most of the bill anyway, and increasing transit use would be a big benefit to those most needing help. Not for long. If you turn public transit into a de facto homeless shelter people who have other options will avoid it. No country with good public transport has it free.
      - jacobolus 4y ago
        Luxembourg has fare-free transit nationwide. Estonia’s capital Tallinn (a city of >400k residents) has fare-free public transit. Dozens (maybe hundreds?) of other cities around the world have made transit free. In the US, Kansas City has fare-free streetcars and bus system, and many other cities are starting experiments with fare-free transit. Generally residents and city officials are happy with the results.
    - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
      If you don't crack down on free subway rides, next they'll be taking free books from the libraries, helping themselves to health checkups or worse expecting police to investigate their petty crime reports at no expense. And who ends up paying for all that? That's right, the taxpayer.

kalkin 4y ago

Can you provide a link to these statements? How old are they? FWIW I don't live in SF but I've had a couple of car break-ins and I don't even remember if I reported them; it was a formality for insurance purposes if so and I never expected nor saw evidence of any police follow up. Are there cities where that's different?

Spooky23 4y ago
NYC: > “Bragg said the office will stop prosecuting people for theft of services, trespassing (unless it accompanies a stalking charge), aggravated unlicensed operation, routine traffic violations not accompanied by felony charges, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, and prostitution.“ https://gothamist.com/news/manhattan-da-bragg-tells-staff-stop-prosecuting-certain-offenses https://gothamist.com/news/manhattan-da-bragg-tells-staff-st... The Manhattan DA subsequently claimed to roll back the policy, but they are still not interested in prosecuting. I travel to NYC on business regularly, and I’ve seen 6/6 times in the last 8 months people at various stations openly evading Subway fares. In one case, a dude was holding a gate open and yelling at people to come through and not bother paying - with 2 NYPD sitting there talking about 10 feet away. In my small upstate city, they’ll only even pretend to investigate a burglary. We have issues with people partying (drinking, smoking weed, having sex, eating and dumping trash in the street) in cars in nice neighborhoods. We have muggings, car thefts, robberies, etc like never before. The cops shrug, as their operating orders prevent them from doing anything. The “progressive” governance model is to suck up to activists to get the campaign cash. Activists want the cops to stand down to street crime. Ultimately the people who live on the wrong side of the tracks suffer. It’s gross.
- atyppo 4y ago
  Not that Bragg is any good, but turnstile hopping has been happening long before Bragg. Perhaps it’s gotten worse - I don’t have any data
- jacobolus 4y ago
  > openly evading Subway fares Nobody has ever cared about this (nor should they, IMO; disclaimer: I have never lived in NYC). Occasionally journalists go to NYC to interview random residents about fare evasion, and the main response is a shrug. Frankly, we’d all be generally better off with free public transit. Governments end up paying most of the bill anyway, and increasing transit use would be a big benefit to those most needing help.
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    > Frankly, we’d all be generally better off with free public transit. Governments end up paying most of the bill anyway, and increasing transit use would be a big benefit to those most needing help. Not for long. If you turn public transit into a de facto homeless shelter people who have other options will avoid it. No country with good public transport has it free.
    - jacobolus 4y ago
      Luxembourg has fare-free transit nationwide. Estonia’s capital Tallinn (a city of >400k residents) has fare-free public transit. Dozens (maybe hundreds?) of other cities around the world have made transit free. In the US, Kansas City has fare-free streetcars and bus system, and many other cities are starting experiments with fare-free transit. Generally residents and city officials are happy with the results.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    If you don't crack down on free subway rides, next they'll be taking free books from the libraries, helping themselves to health checkups or worse expecting police to investigate their petty crime reports at no expense. And who ends up paying for all that? That's right, the taxpayer.