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The event that sparked all this conversation is the homicide of Bob Lee. If we're talking about the problem of car break-ins, robberies, or vandalism, that's on

The event that sparked all this conversation is the homicide of Bob Lee. If we're talking about the problem of car break-ins, robberies, or vandalism, that's one thing. But on the matter of homicide, SF (6.35)¹ tracks closely to the national average (7.8)². Property crime is what substantially contributes to the image that SF is an unsafe city. --- [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... [2]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

dingosity 4y ago
I think it's the fact that most of the people in the comments section here weren't alive in the 80s to have a point of reference. 6 homicides per 100,000 per year? That's high? You should have been here or NYC in the 80s. That being said... yes... 6 homicides per 100,000 is 6 homicides per 100,000 too many.
- threatofrain 4y ago
  Not every city can be like Cupertino, which basically has 0 homicides per 100k, where the streets are often devoid of police patrols (the city not have a police dept), where the public schools are the pride of the city and the youths are beaming with optimism. The streets are clean, the local community college is beautiful, and the businesses are classy but with an interesting dash of old-school mom and pop ethnic restaurants. But I don't think any Cupertino in the US can scale to 800k and maintain these stats.
oh_sigh 4y ago
Part of the issue might be how the murders are distributed. Some cities with high murder rates have a very small segment of the population killing each other (eg drug dealers/gang members), whereas normal people go on mostly untouched save for stray bullets. Maybe SF murders are more randomly distributed among the general population?
hnbad 4y ago
Do you know what's a great predictor for a high crime rate? High levels of wealth inequality. Yes, the poors are more likely to turn to crime (at least the kind of crime that has officers with gun chase you around rather than the kind that requires expensive lawyers) but there's less incentive (and spite) if everyone in the neighborhood is similarly poor.

dingosity 4y ago

I think it's the fact that most of the people in the comments section here weren't alive in the 80s to have a point of reference. 6 homicides per 100,000 per year? That's high? You should have been here or NYC in the 80s. That being said... yes... 6 homicides per 100,000 is 6 homicides per 100,000 too many.

threatofrain 4y ago
Not every city can be like Cupertino, which basically has 0 homicides per 100k, where the streets are often devoid of police patrols (the city not have a police dept), where the public schools are the pride of the city and the youths are beaming with optimism. The streets are clean, the local community college is beautiful, and the businesses are classy but with an interesting dash of old-school mom and pop ethnic restaurants. But I don't think any Cupertino in the US can scale to 800k and maintain these stats.

oh_sigh 4y ago

Part of the issue might be how the murders are distributed. Some cities with high murder rates have a very small segment of the population killing each other (eg drug dealers/gang members), whereas normal people go on mostly untouched save for stray bullets. Maybe SF murders are more randomly distributed among the general population?

hnbad 4y ago

Do you know what's a great predictor for a high crime rate? High levels of wealth inequality. Yes, the poors are more likely to turn to crime (at least the kind of crime that has officers with gun chase you around rather than the kind that requires expensive lawyers) but there's less incentive (and spite) if everyone in the neighborhood is similarly poor.