3 ms·

The Bob Lee thing was incredibly unfortunate (I used to work with Bob) but violent crime is actually fairly low in SF compared to similar sized cities in the US

by kelp 3y ago

The Bob Lee thing was incredibly unfortunate (I used to work with Bob) but violent crime is actually fairly low in SF compared to similar sized cities in the US. However property crime is not low. And downtown, TL, SOMA etc are full of tents and open air drug use. Shoplifting has been bad in SF since I first moved there in 2009 from Seattle. I was surprised to see Walgreens had nearly everything locked up, and you had to get staff to unlock it to buy just about anything. But it feels like it's gotten worse. And while I believe the violent crime statistics are likely correct. I suspect property crime goes hugely underreported because people don't think it's worth reporting to a police department that won't do anything. SF police are severely under-staffed, down about 500 officers since their peak several years ago. The previous DA wasn't prosecuting a lot of these kinds of crimes. The police might have been on a quiet strike, not really doing their jobs because of understaffing and defund the police politics. This last point is mostly speculation and anecdote. But lots of stories of the police seeing a robbery go down, doing nothing. And then the rampant poverty you see all over downtown has just gotten worse.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
vxNsr 3y ago
If I were a cop I wouldn’t expend any effort to chase down a criminal if I know the DA is gonna shirk their responsibility. What’s the point? Law enforcement doesn’t work if the law isn’t enforced. Same way I’m not gonna do any extra work in the office if I know my manager doesn’t care.
- renewiltord 3y ago
  What getting the new DA has shown is that if many people are cops, they won't expend any effort to chase down a criminal whether or not the DA is going to shirk their responsibility. Every quarter since we recalled the old DA we've had higher homicides than the year preceding (the old DA had no increase over the one before).
  - vxNsr 3y ago
    What’s the prosecution rate per arrest? If it’s still miserably low compared to previous years or other jurisdictions with effective DAs then the problem is still the DA
ActorNightly 3y ago
Property crime should be considered violent crime. Nothing in this world is free, someone had to spend hours of their life to be able to buy said property, and taking that is essentially stealing those hours of their life away.

by kelp 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

vxNsr 3y ago

If I were a cop I wouldn’t expend any effort to chase down a criminal if I know the DA is gonna shirk their responsibility. What’s the point? Law enforcement doesn’t work if the law isn’t enforced. Same way I’m not gonna do any extra work in the office if I know my manager doesn’t care.

renewiltord 3y ago
What getting the new DA has shown is that if many people are cops, they won't expend any effort to chase down a criminal whether or not the DA is going to shirk their responsibility. Every quarter since we recalled the old DA we've had higher homicides than the year preceding (the old DA had no increase over the one before).
- vxNsr 3y ago
  What’s the prosecution rate per arrest? If it’s still miserably low compared to previous years or other jurisdictions with effective DAs then the problem is still the DA

ActorNightly 3y ago

Property crime should be considered violent crime. Nothing in this world is free, someone had to spend hours of their life to be able to buy said property, and taking that is essentially stealing those hours of their life away.