When I interned in San Francisco in 2012, living on Harrison St between 3rd and 4th streets, the auto break-ins were so bad and happened so regularly that every single Friday and Saturday night if I passed someone getting out of their car as they parked on my street, I'd slow down and try to tell them that every single car on our street would have it's windows broken and anything in sight stolen by the time they got back from the club at 2 or 3. And every Sunday and Monday morning I'd see the piles of broken glass on the street where each car had been parked. I think it would have been better if that broken glass hadn't been swept away, so that people parking there the next week might have noticed and decided to park elsewhere. And multiple times I saw groups of people crying outside of their car after returning to find their purses and laptops stolen, I saw multiple people have their work and lives thrown into chaos. Thesis papers lost or possessions they couldn't afford to replace gone. And yet I never saw a single police officer on my street, ever.
I often thought about how fun it would be to get a paintball gun with a scope and camp out on a roof some night, knowing that there'd be someone who I could reap some karma with.
Oh and we also had a homeless guy who literally slept on our buildings doorstep. So there were mornings where we literally had to step _over_ him to get outside.
May have been a factor in my decision to not move there after graduating.
Now I live in NYC where I can live in a working class neighborhood with project buildings scattered all around Brooklyn, and yet I don't ever notice any auto break-ins. And you see NYPD everywhere.
How hard would it be to plant a car with a camera and mic in it with police in an unmarked van a couple blocks away? It almost seems like they’re taking advantage of a lack of police effort in this area.
Identifying the offenders doesn’t matter if you aren’t willing to punish them. The voters of SF aren’t. A DA who correctly represents the people of SF doesn’t go after indigent defendants for minor property crime. A police chief or mayor who shares his constituents’ values doesn’t spend resources on arresting them.
My car was broken into in SF near a school. The school had a camera pointing at it, and when I asked they said they'll happily share the footage with police.
What did police do? Told me "it was probably a homeless person and the homeless have it bad enough" so they'll do nothing!
I hate this line of logic. San Francisco is already insanely expensive. Letting property crime go untouched is just pushing the cost of that on to those in the city who are already strapped for time and money. My window got busted and I had to pay $350 and miss half a day of work. I fully expect this to happen again, at my own expense.
The conspiracy theory is that the auto glass shops "employ" the homeless to go around and break windows. One thing I found is that you just leave your doors unlocked. Don't have anything in the car at all. I know it sounds crazy and isn't applicable in every case but I'd bet it would reduce window breakages.
What does "it was probably a homeless person and the homeless have it bad enough" imply to you, if not allowing them someone else's belongings/money out of a sense of need?
The majority of the people in San Francisco just don't see auto break-ins as a priority. In fact, they sympathize with the people who break into cars, as they seem them as an underclass that is forced to do this to survive.
This all stems from the residents themselves. They vote against policing and for people who basically take the view that we should feel bad for the criminals because they have turned to a life of crime. There’s only a Rudy Giuliani between here and there but SF will never elect him or her.
24 comments
[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 99.1 ms ] threadhttps://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/the-broken-...
I often thought about how fun it would be to get a paintball gun with a scope and camp out on a roof some night, knowing that there'd be someone who I could reap some karma with.
Oh and we also had a homeless guy who literally slept on our buildings doorstep. So there were mornings where we literally had to step _over_ him to get outside.
May have been a factor in my decision to not move there after graduating.
Now I live in NYC where I can live in a working class neighborhood with project buildings scattered all around Brooklyn, and yet I don't ever notice any auto break-ins. And you see NYPD everywhere.
Wire camera's all over the thing and call the cops when the window gets broken.
Top shelf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_car
(A similar thing is done with bikes in some places.)
What did police do? Told me "it was probably a homeless person and the homeless have it bad enough" so they'll do nothing!
Not my comment, but I have to ask:
What does "it was probably a homeless person and the homeless have it bad enough" imply to you, if not allowing them someone else's belongings/money out of a sense of need?
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html