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Old 06-27-2015, 06:27 PM
 
615 posts, read 662,635 times
Reputation: 670

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Quote:
Originally Posted by wutitiz View Post
I'm not surprised that Washington has 2 of the top 10. CA has about 6 times the population of WA, also. The problem is that law enforcement does not enforce.

I heard of exactly one bait car operation that was done here in Bellevue in the 20+years I've lived in the Seattle area. It was a success too--they caught at least one thief. They do dozens upon dozens of prostitution stings. They even did seatbelt stings for a while where a cop dressed as a panhandler would peer into cars to see if you were buckled up. If not he would radio ahead to a patrol car that would pull over and ticket.

A local newspaper columnist had his car broken into and tracked the thief via 'find my Iphone.' He found the thief, called 911, but the Seattle cops would not respond.
Police allow car break-ins to become a Seattle growth industry | The Seattle Times
Well, it makes sense for the police to brush it off. Last time I reported an assault there, the jail was 250 people over the limit. Any felony booking would require an escalation to the prosecutor to get his OK. Only in special cases would the cops actually haul someone to jail and book them. This information I'm sharing with you came strait from a cop. A pan handler threaten to shoot me. They found him because I tracked him and told them where to go. The guy admitted to it. The cops did nothing. Where the justice for all?
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Old 06-30-2015, 12:58 AM
 
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
732 posts, read 965,797 times
Reputation: 942
Quote:
Originally Posted by UB50 View Post
Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see a lot of drug users around LA. I do see a lot of poor people, but not that many who look like they are doing crack or meth. (And I grew up around a lot of drug abuse in Florida so it's not like I don't know what it looks like.)
I didn't mean to imply all the homeless & poor are using drugs, I meant the ones who are thieves often are, at least here in SF. I see a lot of drug use at the sidewalk bike chop shops and where there are homeless people selling items. On the occasions when I witness bike & auto break-in thefts & attempted thefts, the thieves often look & act like they're on something.

Not all of the thieves are homeless, the SFPD has also recovered stolen property from thieves who were living in houses & apartments.
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Old 06-30-2015, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Denver, CO
82 posts, read 88,085 times
Reputation: 100
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan View Post
I didn't mean to imply all the homeless & poor are using drugs, I meant the ones who are thieves often are, at least here in SF. I see a lot of drug use at the sidewalk bike chop shops and where there are homeless people selling items. On the occasions when I witness bike & auto break-in thefts & attempted thefts, the thieves often look & act like they're on something.

Not all of the thieves are homeless, the SFPD has also recovered stolen property from thieves who were living in houses & apartments.
One issue that a lot of people may or may not know about is that it use to be commonplace to bus the city's homeless population to San Francisco.

Embarrassingly enough, my own grandfather was the assistant chief of police in the town I grew up in. It was the policy of the department as well as his own to buy any homeless people found a one-way bus ticket to Florida. I'm guessing they got this idea from other areas but even so, they used it and probably encouraged others to as well.

On a bigger scale, I could see how cities could pick either California or Florida because in their mind, the mild weather might justify it as 'humane.' This was coupled alongside the elimination of state mental hospitals in the 80's.

I'd argue the current property crime issue in San Francisco is a combination of gentrification, a large out of state (read:lost) mentally ill population, and a lack of enforcement on the part of the city. The city probably struggles with imbalanced politics in terms of trying to be respectful or kind to them. They don't want to kill or jail them all and yet, what is the legal way to 'evict' them from city property?

I do not think there is an easy solution because any of them involve SOMEONE's toes getting stepped on but this issue is going to only get worse if it does not get dealt with. The Bay Area is one of the most desirable areas in the country and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
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Old 06-30-2015, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,783 posts, read 26,093,782 times
Reputation: 33927
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineDreams View Post
One issue that a lot of people may or may not know about is that it use to be commonplace to bus the city's homeless population to San Francisco.

Embarrassingly enough, my own grandfather was the assistant chief of police in the town I grew up in. It was the policy of the department as well as his own to buy any homeless people found a one-way bus ticket to Florida. I'm guessing they got this idea from other areas but even so, they used it and probably encouraged others to as well.

On a bigger scale, I could see how cities could pick either California or Florida because in their mind, the mild weather might justify it as 'humane.' This was coupled alongside the elimination of state mental hospitals in the 80's.

I'd argue the current property crime issue in San Francisco is a combination of gentrification, a large out of state (read:lost) mentally ill population, and a lack of enforcement on the part of the city. The city probably struggles with imbalanced politics in terms of trying to be respectful or kind to them. They don't want to kill or jail them all and yet, what is the legal way to 'evict' them from city property?

I do not think there is an easy solution because any of them involve SOMEONE's toes getting stepped on but this issue is going to only get worse if it does not get dealt with. The Bay Area is one of the most desirable areas in the country and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
Bus tickets are ok if there is someone on the receiving end to help the person. I worked in a Police Dept. in Northern California with a fairly high number of homeless. We had some local church leaders who volunteered as Police Chaplains, they did an amazing job by reuniting the homeless with family members or even old friends. Many of the homeless had people willing to help them but they had been too embarrassed to ask, in other cases they were accepted back with conditions, i.e go to AA meetings or seek employment but at least they were given a chance. The chaplains would facilitate the reunification and local charities would provide transportation, some new clothing and food for the journey. I have no idea of the long term outcome for these folks but seeing them find a place to go where someone cared was wonderful
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Old 06-30-2015, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,783 posts, read 26,093,782 times
Reputation: 33927
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan View Post
I didn't mean to imply all the homeless & poor are using drugs, I meant the ones who are thieves often are, at least here in SF. I see a lot of drug use at the sidewalk bike chop shops and where there are homeless people selling items. On the occasions when I witness bike & auto break-in thefts & attempted thefts, the thieves often look & act like they're on something.

Not all of the thieves are homeless, the SFPD has also recovered stolen property from thieves who were living in houses & apartments.
It's much easier to do crime if you have a place to live- even if it's only a vehicle. Crimes committed by the homeless you see on the street is usually limited to crimes of "opportunity" i.e. you dropped your wallet, or left your phone on a bench, or you left your car door open. They draw too much attention to themselves just by their appearance to prowl around a parking lot doing break ins, and they don't even have a way to dispose of property they steal- no pawn shop is going to deal with them and it's unlikely that their day to day contacts have anything worthwhile with which to pay them for stolen property.
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Old 06-30-2015, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Bay Area
3,981 posts, read 8,970,350 times
Reputation: 4728
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan View Post
I didn't mean to imply all the homeless & poor are using drugs, I meant the ones who are thieves often are, at least here in SF. I see a lot of drug use at the sidewalk bike chop shops and where there are homeless people selling items. On the occasions when I witness bike & auto break-in thefts & attempted thefts, the thieves often look & act like they're on something.

Not all of the thieves are homeless, the SFPD has also recovered stolen property from thieves who were living in houses & apartments.
Most of the car thefts are actually done by professionals. My mom's car was stolen (in very quiet part of the Sunset and was found 2 days later in an industrial part of Oakland). The police said that the cars are completely stripped of any valuable parts (like seats, electronics) and shipped off to Asia to resell. Police said that the thieves are actually doing a "favor" (LOL) by completely taking everything out so you can claim it as a total loss with the insurance companies.

Can't tell you how many times my car was broken into (including the night of the Loma Prieta)---despite not keeping anything of value in there. SUX!!!
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Old 06-30-2015, 12:00 PM
 
133 posts, read 273,939 times
Reputation: 211
I expected Fresno to be higher, I know four different people that have had their car stolen in the last two years here.
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