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San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

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Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#81

Post by sdenton4 »

b9a2cab5 wrote: post #61
sdenton4 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crim... Pretty random fluctuations across crime categories year over year (5% up for robbery, vehicle theft, 11% down for larceny/theft, which is what this articles about...). For reference, it looks like a few years ago SF was 9th in the us for robbery, at 34 per 10k residents. The current sf stats come to about 40 per 10k residents. https://www.sa…

That's because police don't even bother to report these crimes anymore. See: the article posted recently with the video of shoplifters straight up clearing out an entire Walgreens and no police in sight.

The police are never around when crimes are going on, though: showing up later is what always happens... Good forbid one should bring stats to an pity party though.

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#82

Post by [deleted] »

sbuttgereit wrote: post #77

Also, the Target across the street from us, one of the smaller Target Express concept stores on trial in San Francisco, just shut down permanently last week. The store manager cited crime and the cost of hiring off duty police as security (in addition to normal security personnel) as making the store too expensive to operate. Walgreens closing down smaller stores as well citing the same reason. Driving though our nei…

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#83

Post by [deleted] »

hallway_monitor wrote: post #48
Wellrowed wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a large foreign (but global retailer) with locations in the Bay Area including San Francisco. The bill for our monthly necessary armed security exceeds $20,000 a month. My foreign coworker’s minds were blown that even every starbucks location needs security.

This honestly blows my mind. So SF is basically a third world country now?

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#84

Post by mcguire »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #47
rich_sasha wrote: post #10

Non-American resident: what’s going on in SF? Is the crime rate really so high, and racing up? And if so, why?

Here is a really broad, and hopefully neutral, take on the subject. There is now a popular movement in America that believes the Justice System is too harsh, especially on minor crimes. This is also coupled with the perception that police officers are prone to using force when it is unnecessary, and, that they use deadly force way too often and haphazardly. There is also a huge racial component to all of this, which…

This trend has been going on for much longer than that. I've been hearing complaints all of that behavior for years.

About 20 years ago, I had an RV broken into in Austin, Texas. When I reported it, the police offered a case number for insurance purposes but no investigation.

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#85

Post by sologoub »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #34
epicureanideal wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about those culinary credentials... other large cities have similar amounts of variety and quality, and a lot better parking and less homeless addicts near the restaurants. Can you give me some examples of cultural credentials?

> Can you give me some examples of cultural credentials? San Francisco has a large number of Michelin-rated restaurants. Their clientele are largely insulated from these issues. It also has a large number of independent theatres and performance and exhibition spaces. One of the city’s problems is its elites can live quite well independent of reality on the ground. That’s essential to the political problem, and why cl…

The “elite” part of SF are getting hit all the same - you can’t leave a car parked in pacific heights or cow hollow without risking a break-in. Friends resort to leaving cars unlocked, windows down, just to try and avoid more broken windows or other damage.

You can’t really insulate yourself from the situation on the streets you have to walk/drive.

Comparatively, NYC has better food and culture scenes. LA has excellent food scene as well with arguably better regional varieties and beach is way better.

What SF really has are proximity to great jobs and reputation/network of SV. So long as these hold, people will continue to tolerate the many issues. This is where comparison with Detroit is not that outlandish - Detroit was once the place to be for good paying automotive jobs. In those days, real estate was booming and prices were high for their day.

If you take away to tech booms, there is still a lot to like - nature, weather, aforementioned food/culture stuff. Unfortunately, that’s offset by issues discussed here, as well as huge amounts of pollution and superfunds, so without the great jobs/industry, it might get a lot less appealing quickly.

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#86

Post by 6f8986c3 »

hallway_monitor wrote: post #48
Wellrowed wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a large foreign (but global retailer) with locations in the Bay Area including San Francisco. The bill for our monthly necessary armed security exceeds $20,000 a month. My foreign coworker’s minds were blown that even every starbucks location needs security.

This honestly blows my mind. So SF is basically a third world country now?

Has been for some time.

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#87

Post by BitwiseFool »

adjkant wrote: post #69
BitwiseFool wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a really broad, and hopefully neutral, take on the subject. There is now a popular movement in America that believes the Justice System is too harsh, especially on minor crimes. This is also coupled with the perception that police officers are prone to using force when it is unnecessary, and, that they use deadly force way too often and haphazardly. There is also a huge racial component to all of this, which…

I think this is a pretty decent summary, but I do genuinely have one factual question here: > Many homeless people defecate and urinate freely in public because the police have simply stopped issuing citations for such behavior. What was a citation doing previously on this given that homeless people would simply ignore a citation? Has this actually increased in a way we can measure? I haven't been in SF since the pan…

>"What was a citation doing previously on this given that homeless people would simply ignore a citation? Has this actually increased in a way we can measure?"

I cannot provide you with an empirical answer, but I can give you an anecdote from a small business owner. That citation used to come with other consequences such as an arrest and a court date. So, many homeless people knew that it was better to do 'their business' somewhere out of sight rather than have to deal with the police. But now that the police don't show up for such things, why bother trying to be discreet?

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#88

Post by [deleted] »

sologoub wrote: post #85
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you give me some examples of cultural credentials? San Francisco has a large number of Michelin-rated restaurants. Their clientele are largely insulated from these issues. It also has a large number of independent theatres and performance and exhibition spaces. One of the city’s problems is its elites can live quite well independent of reality on the ground. That’s essential to the political problem, and why cl…

The “elite” part of SF are getting hit all the same - you can’t leave a car parked in pacific heights or cow hollow without risking a break-in. Friends resort to leaving cars unlocked, windows down, just to try and avoid more broken windows or other damage. You can’t really insulate yourself from the situation on the streets you have to walk/drive. Comparatively, NYC has better food and culture scenes. LA has excelle…

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#89

Post by b9a2cab5 »

adjkant wrote: post #79
hallway_monitor wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This honestly blows my mind. So SF is basically a third world country now?

Why is your first reaction to any description or decrease in safety to go directly to the phrase "third world country"? Even forgetting the phrase, what you likely mean by it is also not true in all or even most aspects. It's incredibly reductive to use a single category classification of "how nice do I feel something is" for everyone to project on their own ideas how they will. SF can be both having an increase in h…

The tech industry didn't do shit, San Francisco NIMBYs were the ones who refused to build housing causing the price of everything to only be affordable for tech workers.

I don't know how you can blame a high paying employer for causing "destabilization". People getting pushed out by gentrification are getting pushed out because there is no new supply of housing but massive new demand for housing.

Re: San Francisco Organized Shoplifting Surge Prompts Target to Cut Operating Hours

#90

Post by IkmoIkmo »

rich_sasha wrote: post #10

Non-American resident: what’s going on in SF? Is the crime rate really so high, and racing up? And if so, why?

I know it's just an anecdote but, a good friend of mine went to SF about a year ago with four other friends. Much of their stuff (macbooks etc) got stolen from their car on their first day.

Of course silly to leave things in the car. Still, these are all guys from Europe who've travelled every continent extensively and never experienced something like this. In fact none of us can remember a single break-in of any kind into our cars or homes in our entire lives in any country.

It really just is an anecdote, I've never set foot in SF myself. But as a non-American who was surprised by the narrative around this city home to some of the world's ultra rich, the anecdote easily fit in.

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