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I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

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Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#131

Is anybody else getting tired of the constant stream of inflammatory posts ragging on San Francisco or the Bay Area? I feel like I've been seeing one every one or two days that make it to the top of HN. These types of posts just seem to fit into this ongoing narrative that SF (and relatedly, silicon valley), are all falling apart due to poor governance. It's beginning to feel like a strong echo chamber in here. What…

Well when police end up killing someone, it's usually anecdotal now isn't it?

If the anecdote is representative of some kind of trend, then it's worth examining because the 'visceral reality' of these crimes are better understood.

Having 7K in camera gear robbed in broad daylight by rando's in a Honda gives us a hint of understanding of what's happening.

Aside from the 'Justice System changes' and COVID, we may very well be entering a kind of new phase in social culture.

The thought of such a thing happening many decades ago, before massive increase in crime in the 1960's would have shocked people. They had different kinds of 'bad things' then.

This kind of brazen crime should be very, very rare in regular, civilized places.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#132

SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin ran for office in November 2019 focusing his campaign on ending mass incarceration with restorative justice models, rather than punitive incarceral methods. Since then crime in SF has absolutely exploded, fuelled by proposition 47 which reduced stealing less than $900 day to a misdemeanor. Add in a massive opioid crisis and the result is a rapidly growing crisis of shoplifting, petty…

> Since then crime in SF has absolutely exploded. This is sort of misleading. Burglaries, motor vehicle thefts, and homicides went up, but all other crimes went down. Specifically in the case of homicides, there were 7 more compared to 2019. > I have never seen it this bad. Crime is still at an all time low in SF. The rate of crimes has roughly remained static for the better part of two decades. The increased number…

Murders don't just disappear, they are almost universally reported and investigated. Burglaries and car thefts need a police report to make an insurance claim.

For crimes like assault though, if the police convince the victim that reporting it is pointless, it doesn't show up in the stats. Anecdotally, this is what I have heard is happening.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#133
post #9

In early 2020, before lockdown, I visited San Francisco as a tourist with my wife. We took a wrong turn at a book store and wound up on a street covered in feces. The next street was fine. Then on the next, we watched a homeless woman shoot up on the street. Then a supercar pulled into a garage. I'm not the best traveled, I'll admit, so I can't compare SF to foreign cities. I'm a simple hillbilly from the Southeast,…

"The homeless are way more aggressive than they are in Chicago or Texan cities. The feces. The crime." So where do homeless people go to the bathroom in Chicago and Texas? In SF most businesses won't let homeless people (ie. obviously poor people and/or people with severe mental issues) use their bathrooms, and even if they did, most of the city closes down at night, so there's nowhere to go. SF has some public bathr…

Another thing that’s not obvious about the public bathrooms is they aren’t safe. You go in, close the windowless door, do your business, and open it up to find someone standing there waiting to rob you.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#135
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh he absolutely knows it's bad policy, however he also knows it wins votes from people in San Francisco. The problem is a large numbers of voters in SF don't realize it's bad policy, and maybe a bigger problem would be why are district attorneys elected positions in the first place?

The alternative would be that they believe it is good policy and they're willing to accept some increase in crime. Not saying I necessarily agree or accept that the policies are necessarily causing an increase in crime, but I do think it's worth pointing out that this is a possibility. (that imo is not unlikely)

You are right it is a possibility, I actually think "incarceration rate" may actually be this alternative benchmark you suggested.

Now the question is do voters realize that benchmark can be artificially lowered by terrible policies that don't help anyone other than make some people "feel good"? We can literally make all crimes legal and we'd end up with an incarceration rate and prison population of zero.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#136

SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin ran for office in November 2019 focusing his campaign on ending mass incarceration with restorative justice models, rather than punitive incarceral methods. Since then crime in SF has absolutely exploded, fuelled by proposition 47 which reduced stealing less than $900 day to a misdemeanor. Add in a massive opioid crisis and the result is a rapidly growing crisis of shoplifting, petty…

It's funny how SF has turned into a daylight sociological experiment. Remove enforcement of several crimes and see it have areas reminiscent of 3rd world countries in a matter of years. (But don't expect this to be in any sociological studies, scholars will still blame "lack of education", "lack of opportunities", etc, while those have a role to play, the major factor that changed here is pretty obvious)

It's amazing what happens when the cops are in open revolt against a DA that is finally holding them accountable.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#137
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh he absolutely knows it's bad policy, however he also knows it wins votes from people in San Francisco. The problem is a large numbers of voters in SF don't realize it's bad policy, and maybe a bigger problem would be why are district attorneys elected positions in the first place?

The alternative would be that they believe it is good policy and they're willing to accept some increase in crime. Not saying I necessarily agree or accept that the policies are necessarily causing an increase in crime, but I do think it's worth pointing out that this is a possibility. (that imo is not unlikely)

In my social circle, which includes co-workers and families, this is explicitly stated, and it's rationalized with "they deserve more than they have, so if it takes crime to get them more, that's just in my book".

I think it's more likely than you expect, at least on the very vocal group that is aggressively pushing the overton window on our views on the social contract.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#139
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I lived in the Tendernob neighborhood of SF for almost 10 years. I’d always pass by a lot of what you’re talking about... - At one point I did a lot of walking there and to keep myself entertained I started tracking PPM (poops per mile) - one day I walked by a woman peeing between two cars, and she noticed me & apologized. Later I walked back that same route and saw her again. She thanked me for not yelling at…

I've peed in a bush in SF. I didn't want to, but that's what happens when you have humans with bladders and zero public restrooms. I tried to not pee in the bush. I asked around, went to a few grab and go restaurants, a gas station, but none had a public bathroom. My only option was to wait in line and pay cover to get into a bar, wait in line at the high end restaurants in the area, drive across town to Denny's for…

My trick is to walk into a random shop, drop some change in the tip jar, and then ask to use the restroom. I’ve never been turned down. Sure, I don’t want to pay to pee, but they have to clean it at their own expense, so I don’t mind chipping in.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#140
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I lived in the Tendernob neighborhood of SF for almost 10 years. I’d always pass by a lot of what you’re talking about... - At one point I did a lot of walking there and to keep myself entertained I started tracking PPM (poops per mile) - one day I walked by a woman peeing between two cars, and she noticed me & apologized. Later I walked back that same route and saw her again. She thanked me for not yelling at…

I've peed in a bush in SF. I didn't want to, but that's what happens when you have humans with bladders and zero public restrooms. I tried to not pee in the bush. I asked around, went to a few grab and go restaurants, a gas station, but none had a public bathroom. My only option was to wait in line and pay cover to get into a bar, wait in line at the high end restaurants in the area, drive across town to Denny's for…

The S.F bathroom problem is that heroin addicts go into bathrooms, they lock the door, they pass out, and die or have a psychotic break and break everything they can or smear shit all over the walls and then the store is liable for the wrongful death or they have to clean it up.
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