Car Break-Ins Skyrocket As Thieves Target Unsuspecting Tourists In San Francisco

[Klaralven]

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — Car break-ins have skyrocketed in San Francisco, increasing by more than 700 percent in some parts of the city. With more people visiting after county and state restrictions were lifted, thieves are taking advantage of tourists by breaking into rental cars.

“Sucky end to our vacation but what can we do,” said Kaitlin Lore, visiting from New Jersey.

“There’s some glass over there and over there. We didn’t think anything of it and sure enough our car got broken into,” said Tony Medina, visiting from Los Angeles.

SFPD’s Central Station reported auto burglaries skyrocketed 753% in May compared to the same time last year during lockdowns and they’re still up 75% compared to the same period in 2019.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/06/30/car-break-ins-skyrocketing-as-thieves-target-unsuspecting-tourists-in-san-francisco/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. and the Repubes are already saying it, led by Dump: crime, blah blah California blah blah Dems

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I left my cash ... in San Francisco.

All this, and shopping cars too.

[Footay]

3. Especially SUVs

I read another article that said a large majority of the break-ins are in rental SUVs, as thieves could see belongings through all the windows.

[Scrivener7]

4. Why is all this chaos happening in San Francisco?

[snowybirdie]

5. The city

Changed petty theft laws. Anything under $2000 doesn't get investigated or really punished. Dumb in my opinion.

[alphafemale]

7. That is insane. Of course the lowlifes are motivated to steal.

It's like giving them a green light.

Honest working people be damned.

[LisaM]

11. It's created shoplifting gangs.

This is happening in Seattle too. The police won't respond to shoplifting calls and stores have to deal with the losses. I know of at least a couple that have closed.

[LiberatedUSA]

9. If that is true...

...then this is the city’s fault. That is basically telling criminals they can steal what they want, up to a certain amount, and the police won’t do anything about it. Which also means those that get their stuff stolen can’t do anything about it.

I believe I remember reading an article about how they wanted to help with the homelessness there, but the rich residents didn’t want all the homeless living next to them.

Such an odd stance to take for a city held high as an example of liberal ideals.

[SouthBayDem]

20. more like California Proposition 47 passed in 2014

which reduced theft of less than $950 worth of property to a misdemeanor not felony. Generally I'm in favor of reduced sentencing for nonviolent crimes, but the leniency toward quality of life crimes is rather myopic, short sighted.

[rockfordfile]

21. If true, then it's time to change that

[TheFarseer]

6. Went to SF 3 years ago

Didn't get a rental car. We walked, took public transportation or uber. Saw alot homeless people.

[Klaralven]

8. Was in SF about 3 yrs ago. Took 19th from I-280 to the Golden Gate Bridge. Didn't seem too bad.

[secondwind]

13. The more residents in a city, the more homeless.

It’s been this way since forever.

[Dial H For Hero]

10. The only time I was ever accosted in my car was in San Francisco.

I was driving along, minding my own business, when (while stopped at a light) what I presume in retrospect to be a homeless individual started pounding on my passenger window, screaming “I want a ride!” over and over. They were hitting it so hard I thought it was going to crack. They were also fumbling with the handle, trying to open the door.

As soon as the light turned green I floored it. This was back in the 1990’s.

[secondwind]

14. I would guess that the majority of homeless, no matter where,

have some mental issues. Which is the reason they are homeless to begin with.

[Klaralven]

16. That's not necessarily the problem with the majority of thieves

[tenderfoot]

12. See what happens when LIBERALS run things!!!!

That's exactly what this shit is about.

[Effete Snob]

15. "compared to the same time last year"

Another "let's look at a statistic that was impacted by the pandemic response" article.

[Klaralven]

17. "up 75% compared to the same period in 2019"

[Effete Snob]

19. Which is quite smaller that 753%

[DFW]

18. I was living in Philadelphia many moons ago

There was a garbage collectors' strike on, and the city was suffocating in the trash piling up on the streets.

One of the favorite stories in the paper was about a young mother who didn't know where to go with her piles of used disposable diapers. She got the idea to pack them in odor-proof plastic bags, and then into two large boxes. She then gift wrapped them, complete with pink ribbons and happy birthday cards.

She then put them on the back seat of her car, and parked it somewhere in Center City (downtown). She left the car unlocked, and went for a ten minute stroll. Sure enough--she came back after ten minutes, and some "considerate citizen" had done her the favor of removing her used diapers from her car to parts unknown.
---------------------------------------

In Western Europe, the people are so used to official toleration of theft, rings of professionals are everywhere. From pickpockets to professional burglary rings, it is an industry unto itself. In Berlin, and this goes back decades, there was a Serbian burglary ring particularly known for its brutality. If by any chance someone was found in the place they were robbing, they got their throats slit, so there would be no witnesses. They were only caught because they got sloppy, and one victim survived and identified them. Laws exist in many European countries that make it a crime for a theft victim to resist with force.

A friend of mine in Paris was attacked by a Bulgarian "friend" he had met several months before. Gaining the confidence to invite the guy behind the security barrier in his shop to invite the guy in for coffee, his new "friend" pulled out a hammer and started hitting him over the head, and then heading to clean out the cash register. My friend, blood streaming from his head, wrestled the hammer from his assailant, and hit him back. After calling the police, since he was in better shape than his attacker, even though he was 70 at the time, he was charged with grievous assault. He wasn't convicted, but he soon closed his shop in disgust.

In Brussels, a 19 year old kid smashed the windows of a parked car and started to try to take out the radio. The car was parked IN FRONT OF A POLICE STATION!! When the cops rushed to grab him, he yelled at them to leave him alone, shouting, "why are you doing this? You know that if you arrest me, I'll just be back here in two hours," which he indeed was.

This attitude of misplaced "tolerance" has been like pouring gasoline on the fire of rightist extremism. They couldn't have asked for a greater gift. These policies have been so obviously helpful to the radical right, one has to wonder if the "tolerant, foreigner-friendly" left responsible for these laws was REALLY so leftward leaning, but instead long term right wing plants. It's hard to imagine that people with good intentions could have been so short-sighted.