Some Bay Area residents told East County Gazette that the crime rate in the Golden City is rising, despite the fact that the new district attorney has reversed some of his predecessor’s progressive initiatives.
For John, a San Franciscan for over half a century, crime is at an all-time high. “We have a new District Attorney, so maybe things will improve, but I was robbed lately, so I’m a bit suspicious that things will improve any time soon,” the 74-year-old remarked.
Protection in San Francisco
Max, a local who argues otherwise, said, “I feel perfectly protected in San Francisco.” Every chance I get, I advise them to “try to grow up here in the 1970s and 1980s; it was extremely different.”
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Critics of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s progressive policies, such as the abolition of cash bail and a lenient stance toward drug offences, contributed to Boudin’s recall in June.
Residents told Fox News that even though Boudin’s successor, Brooke Jenkins, has overturned several of Boudin’s measures, this hasn’t made the city appreciably safer.
Keith, a native San Franciscan, said that “security in California and San Francisco is bad.” Nowhere in this city makes me feel secure.
He said, “On crime, they don’t do anything, they simply let the offenders go.”
The Blame on Proposition 47
Keith worked at a grocery store in San Francisco’s Marina and alleged that workers were told not to intervene when shoplifters struck.
He laid the blame on Proposition 47, a California law enacted in 2014 that makes it illegal to prosecute shoplifters for taking $950 or less in goods.
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Susan added, “I realise crime is the main concern right now.” “We have to put a stop to it.”
The San Francisco Police Department reports a 15% increase in larceny theft since the beginning of the year compared to the same time in 2021.
This includes car break-ins and thefts as well as shoplifting. The theft rate has gone up by 3% from the time Jenkins began office on July 8, 2022, to the time he left office on October 13, 2022, according to these numbers.
Susan told Fox News that she has seen break-ins and car thefts at nearby pharmacies and that many homeless people have to turn to crime to get by.
She emphasised the need to have the “will to fix it” to end homelessness. On the other hand, “I’m not sure whether there’s the will to solve it.”
Some locals in San Francisco claim that the city’s large homeless population is to blame for the rise in crime rates.
Joe concurred, noting that the homeless contribute to the city’s crime problem.
He said that the homeless will find a more liberal and, I think, accepting environment in San Francisco.
Joe went on, “I believe it’s growing less safe.” “There are a lot of individuals with mental instability living on the streets today because there is nowhere for them to obtain the therapy and counselling and maybe the corrective activities that they need.”
Keith said the Democrats were responsible for the country’s rising crime and homeless populations.
“I hate to say it, but simply all these Democrats, the main thing about this is that they’re just too easy on crime, “he added. In other words, “they’re too mild on crime.”