According to CBS News, Target is closing all five of its San Francisco stores early because of crime, specifically thefts and shoplifting. Additionally, every retail store in the ‘Golden City’ has cut back hours dramatically, now closing their doors before dark at 6 pm.
This comes after reports that Walgreens has closed 17 stores in the Bay Area in the past five years.
Walgreens stores in San Francisco are experiencing theft that is four times the average of their stores across the country. They also spend 35 times more on security guards in San Francisco.
According to the California Retailer’s Association, three cities in California are among the top 10 in the country when it comes to organized retail crime–Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento.
The Public Policy Institute of California’s research shows San Francisco has the lowest arrest rate of any police department in California, according to an ABC7 report.
According to experts, the surge in retail crime, especially in San Francisco, is directly due to lenient crime policies instituted by progressive district attorneys and politicians.
A steady increase in shoplifting at big chains like Walgreens and CVS prompted a recent hearing before the Board of Supervisors, with some city leaders left shocked after hearing how bad things are. One executive said thieves would hit several stores in a day, keeping each theft below the $950 threshold, but stealing more than $30,000 of goods overall.
According to a local CBS affiliate, the number of car break-ins has risen “by more than 700 percent in some parts of the city.” Shootings are up 70 percent in Oakland and murders are up 90 percent.
A recent poll shows that 80% of San Francisco residents say crime has gotten worse, and about 4 in 10 are thinking about moving out because of “out-of-control” criminal activity and homelessness.
The survey conducted by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce also mentioned residents frequently see public drug use, which further reinforces their thoughts of exiting the city permanently.
“For the second year in a row, 70% of residents feel that the quality of life in San Francisco has declined. Considered in light of the pandemic, these views are somewhat unsurprising. However, what stands out in the polling results is the strikingly high and consistent number of respondents who now view homeless and crime as the leading problems facing the city.”
Nearly 9 in 10 SF residents say homelessness has worsened in the last few years.
According to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll more Americans now say crime is a “very big problem” in the U.S. than those that say the same about COVID-19.
In July of 2020 60% of respondents said Covid was their primary concern, with race relations in 2nd place at 54%, today the majority of respondents say violent crime is their top concern, with Covid down to just 32%.
According to a USA today poll – overall support for Black lives matter has dropped below 50%, and a Marquette university poll shows support is at 48% overall. A recent Yahoo / YouGov poll shows that views of Black Lives Matter are at only 47 percent positive overall with only 41% of whites now supporting the movement.
Experts say the surge in shootings and homicides across the country is mainly due to police demoralization driven by the Black Lives Matter protests. Since the protests began, police across the country have been retiring and transferring at the highest rates in history.
The progressive policies on crime like those in San Francisco, and decisions to release tens of thousands of criminals from prison early, seem to only add fuel to the fire.
Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s newest district attorney, the guy once referred to as “communist” by city sheriffs, kicked off his new role in 2020 by, firing seven of the community’s experienced prosecutors. Those prosecutors were the most notable for being tough on crime.
Boudin has made it his signature policy to not enforce laws against so-called ‘quality of life’ crimes like public urination, prostitution, camping, drug use, and low-level theft.
Boudin’s ‘restorative justice model’ combined with California’s Proposition 47, seems to have been a recipe for disaster for the Golden City.
One of DA Boudin’s first actions upon taking office was to end the office’s practice of asking for money bail.
During a photo-op with Angela Davis – a longtime member of the Communist Party USA – Boudin announced he would end cash bail for all criminal cases. Not too long after this announcement, Boudin dropped charges against a black man accused of violently attacking police officers with a vodka bottle, and another black man accused of attacking an elderly Asian man collecting cans.
In March of 2020, the San Francisco district attorney’s office said they withdrew charges on the attacker and are pursuing a “restorative justice” model against the 20-year-old man arrested in the attack captured in the viral video.
It is rumored that Boudin’s office has phoned thousands of victims of violent and property crimes since he was elected, asking them to drop the charges against those arrested, to further a ‘restorative justice’ model.
“We’ve been in conversation with the victim who expressed interest in a restorative justice outcome in this case,” said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office. “Specifically, against the young person who videoed the incident. We respect victims and their desires and we will explore a restorative justice outcome.”
Mr. Boudin’s parents were members of the Weather Underground, a far-left militant terrorist group, and were imprisoned when he was a baby for taking part in a robbery that resulted in the deaths of three people.
Boudin was born in New York City to Jewish parents. After his parents were incarcerated, Boudin was raised in Chicago by adoptive parents Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who were leaders of the Weather Underground.
Since taking office, Boudin has stated frequently that he wants an “end to mass incarceration.” His reasoning is based on theories that black men are incarcerated at a higher rate because of the color of their skin.
According to the data, black men are arrested and imprisoned at the highest rates because of their vastly higher crime rates. Over 50% of the homicides in the country and around 80% of the gun homicides are committed by about 4% of the American population – black males aged 18 to 35.
After examining data over a 3-year period, researchers found that crime reports matched up with crime arrests for race, meaning that blacks were being arrested at the same rate that they committed crimes. Another scientific study found that the overrepresentation of non-whites in jail reflects their crime rates.
Thousands of frustrated San Francisco crime victims are now demanding that Boudin step up enforcement or step aside.
Rene Dennis, the owner of the restaurant Chao Pescao, announced in May that her McAllister Street restaurant has been broken into four times in less than a month.
Even more frustrating, Dennis and Tenderloin police caught the suspect in the act the third time, only to catch the same man again just days later.
“He saw and I saw it was the same guy,” Dennis recalled. “We both sort of looked at each other like ‘what is going on here?’
The number of incarcerated people in San Francisco County jails has been reduced by nearly 50% since January 21, 2020, with now over 76,000 California inmates eligible for an earlier release, including violent and repeat felons. Many of the criminals involved in violent and property crimes are multiple repeat offenders.
San Francisco has one of the highest populations of unsheltered homeless residents in the country, behind only Seattle, Los Angeles, and larger Bay Area regions like Alameda County and the South Bay.
KOMO Anchor Eric Johnson took an in-depth look at the impact the drug and homelessness problem is having on Seattle and possible solutions in “Seattle is Dying,” a news documentary that aired on KOMO-TV in March, 2019.
According to polling in places like Idaho, Arizona, and Texas, residents fleeing the fruits of progressive policies in places like Seattle and San Francisco are not welcome in the neighboring states.
