Its not one thing but a combination of factors. - Police budgets getting slashed and police forces being reduced. - Legislation like Prop47 (which made shopli

Its not one thing but a combination of factors. - Police budgets getting slashed and police forces being reduced. - Legislation like Prop47 (which made shoplifting of goods < $950 a misdemeanor). - Progressive DA's refusing to prosecute low level crimes. Individually all these changes aren't so bad and make sense on paper, but put them together in practice and it's a recipe for disaster. If you're a criminal thinking about robbing a store in SF for example, you know that: 1. The police likely won't show up so you likely won't get caught 2. Even if you do get caught, as long as you stole < $950, you get a slap on the wrist and the DA won't prosecute the crime. Personally I think CA needs a "3 strikes" style law for low level petty crimes like shoplifting. The problem I keep hearing is that even if someone gets arrested for shoplifting, they are back out on the street the next day and there's no greater punishment for repeat offenders, so as a result you get a small group of people that do most of the crime and get arrested 50+ times per year with no consequence besides getting locked up for one night (at most).