This is totally a problem (I am in that half). But is it the important problem? Potentially bigger "rampant crime" issues: - Corruption in SF municipal government - Local power company keeps causing devastating fires, killing people. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/24/pge-should-be-b... - There were more than 300 news stories about a single shoplifting incident last year, and comparatively little coverage a…
Whataboutism is the greater crime.
A continued insistence on complaining about the nearest symptom rather than addressing any of the deeper causes begins to look a lot like complicity.
I had a car broken into this last weekend. They broke into every rental car in the lot (by the ferry building). A police officer was rolling through, telling people not to leave anything visible in their cars (nothing was visible in mine). I asked him if I could file a report, and he told me I would have to go to the station. He told me he wasn't sticking around and refused to take a report. I had a similar experienc…
> telling people not to leave anything visible in their cars I effing hate that attitude. We shouldn't have to live in a society where every moment you have to be vigilant against the bad guys. It keeps piling on. I suspect if we keep this up there will be signs "don't use your phone in public" (because people will steal phones from your hands). "don't eat in public" (because people will steal food from you). "don't…
>The whole point of having police instead of having to walk around with your own armor and armed guards is so we can not have to put up with this stuff.
I might catch tuns of downvotes for this, but the Police in SF are to protect the interests of the elite. It is not in their interest to worry about "petty" crime. The police are not legally obligated to protect the public.
> telling people not to leave anything visible in their cars I effing hate that attitude. We shouldn't have to live in a society where every moment you have to be vigilant against the bad guys. It keeps piling on. I suspect if we keep this up there will be signs "don't use your phone in public" (because people will steal phones from your hands). "don't eat in public" (because people will steal food from you). "don't…
> We shouldn't have to live in a society where every moment you have to be vigilant against the bad guys. > having to walk around with your own armor and armed guards is so we can not have to put up with this stuff The net result wont be hyper vigilant people (as in they modify their behavior). The net result will be fight or flight. Vigilantes, or migration. I found myself getting increasingly ready for violence in…
Considering violence to protect your property is a fool's errand in CA. The people attempting to steal from you have a very low chance of going to jail. You resorting to violence to stop it has a very, very high chance of you getting significant time in jail. You did the most reasonable thing by leaving.
> 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 tho…
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.
I think you’re trying to make a joke, but it’s hard to tell for sure (Poe's law strikes again). Your comment seems like a parody of those “you wouldn’t steal a car” PSA ads trying to discourage copyright infringement.
In case you are serious... Fare evasion vs. stealing library books are clearly categorically different. Routine health checkups should be free for everyone; the US profit-focused healthcare system is totally fucked up: outrageously expensive for society, outrageously ineffective, and outrageously unjust.
I don’t think I’ve had any theft incidents in many years in Seattle.
I visited Seattle for 9 days, and had my car smashed. There was nothing even in it.
I know this is Seattle now but purely time-based: I visited SF for an hour last year and was victim of a smash and grab. Parked across the street across from a restaurant near the wharf with people sitting/eating outside so I thought it would be safe. I'm guessing partly because there were some plastic shopping bags in the backseat (with candy, which they didn't take) and because the rental car had out of state plates. When I returned the car at SF airport, there was a row of cars in front with the exact same window (rear driver's side) smashed. As I waited for paperwork/replacement, several other cars came in with the same window smashed. At least when I called the PD they told me to just file a report online (which I needed for insurance) and asked if they should send an officer - to which I said, "no, why would you send an officer now?". I don't remember the answer. Worse was trying to get a hold of someone at the rental car company... ugh what a disaster.
Here's a good place to compare to other cities, if comparing is even a reasonable thing to do [1]. Sort by Total for Property Crime. Notably Albuquerque, Spokane, and Memphis have higher total property crime rates. But perhaps wouldn't make such an interesting headline for those in tech. Also notable that Orlando, FL is high on the list. But Irvine, CA and Tampa, FL are at the bottom of the list. Please also read the…
Interesting facts about Irvine: It’s owned entirely by one of the largest (maybe the largest) real estate company in the US, The Irvine Company. They also have a heavy presence in Sunnyvale CA. Irvine buildings and neighborhoods - all of them - are built intentionally to be anti-crime. Things like alleys and dark corners are virtually non-existent.
I heard many years ago that Irvine has/had the highest police to citizen ratio in the US. Not sure how true was/is though.
I had a car broken into this last weekend. They broke into every rental car in the lot (by the ferry building). A police officer was rolling through, telling people not to leave anything visible in their cars (nothing was visible in mine). I asked him if I could file a report, and he told me I would have to go to the station. He told me he wasn't sticking around and refused to take a report. I had a similar experienc…
As long as politicians and da are dead set on police not actually convicting anyone you can replace the police as many times as you want. Not that they are good, but they probably don't want to bother charging someone who will be released without a slap on the wrist the next day anyway.
Boudin's conviction rate was higher than his predecessor....
I had a car broken into this last weekend. They broke into every rental car in the lot (by the ferry building). A police officer was rolling through, telling people not to leave anything visible in their cars (nothing was visible in mine). I asked him if I could file a report, and he told me I would have to go to the station. He told me he wasn't sticking around and refused to take a report. I had a similar experienc…
> I had a dispatcher refuse to send an officer for a theft crew that I'd stopped in the middle of breaking into a car before they waved a gun at me and drove at me and my son over the sidewalk. That encounter with the thieves sounds awful, and then being unable to get police help sounds doubly awful. I hope your son wasn't traumatized by it. FWIW, not all cities are like that. The couple times someone pulled a gun on…
I think this is much harder in practice. These “honeypots” are often considered entrapment and cause the case to get thrown out.
Um... no? Entrapment is about being induced to commit a crime you wouldn't otherwise have committed, and it's a lot more relevant for things like drugs or terrorist plots where the government information is outright giving you the things that's illegal for you to have. For theft, it's quite hard to think of a situation where someone could put you in a state of mind that stealing this thing isn't against the law. The…
I think example of entrapment for theft is "I'll pay you $10000 for it if you steal that bike for me". ... you wouldn't have normally considered it but now that I stuck a huge windfall under your nose ...
Putting a bike a place and manner an ordinary tourist would, which you just happen to be monitoring is not going to cause someone to steal who otherwise wouldn't.
Nowhere in my comment was there anything about tolerating mafia-like behavior. It's really not complicated. Of course cops should be reprimanded for bad behavior, as they are.
> Of course cops should be reprimanded for bad behavior, as they are. Are you delusional? This has been a very hot issue for over a year now.
Are you delusional? Have no cops been reprimanded in the past year?