> Mandelman added that Safeway told him police rarely arrest anyone for a property crime, by the time they make it on the scene.
Cities need to be able to properly police. If the police don't do anything about crimes, then people are just going to commit more. I respect and understand there is limited resources the police have to work with, but as the article says, business owners across SF have been asking politicians for more support against petty crimes for a while.
I don't have a good solution, but this is a supermarket i'd frequent and would appreciate longer hours.
I think this is why crime is "falling" in San Francisco. The cops make no arrests, and often don't even take police reports. A few months ago I and everyone else in this store got pepper-sprayed by a shoplifter (the way the security guard told it, a shoplifter attacked a guard with a large can of it which ruptured when he swung at him with it and hit a shelf). I don't even think the police showed up. They weren't there 20 or 40 minutes later when I drove by after going home to clean up.
My business partner used to watch burglars in Pacific Heights go door to door and steal packages out of apartment building lobbies. He'd call the police and they'd say thank you but never even sent a car.
I was in a hit-and-run accident a few weeks ago, and because I wasn't injured, it was "just a misdemeanor" and they categorically refused to take a report at the station, even though I had dashcam video and the plate number.
It doesn’t have to be this way many small cities have great police departments. It’s just that large cities and especially liberal cities like Seattle and SF have failed police departments that can’t be salvaged
Seattle is no where near that bad. Also the liberalness of a city is a red herring and doesn't have to be related to crime (most big cities are liberal, its part of being a big city). Being a big city means that unless you have enough officers, you just can't handle every case.
Seattle is a city with very little crime like homicide or theft or drug trafficking, but lots of homelessness and many people see that and assume there is lots of crime. Homelessness may or may not be a crime, but its not the same sort of crime, its pretty victimless.
> very little crime like homicide or theft or drug trafficking
Which part of Seattle do you live in? I lived in north Seattle for the last four years before recently leaving.
Drugs were being sold in broad daylight at the end of my street, and the only time it let up for a few weeks was when one of them crashed their stolen car a block away and died.
We left after a run of shootings and stabbings near the closest library.
It might not be Chicago but it's within an order of magnitude. Chicago has about 5x more shootings per capita per year, although Seattle is trending in the wrong direction with shootings up 30% yoy.
My wife and I briefly returned to Seattle for a work event, and she said the two times she stopped by the CVS across the street from the Belltown hotel there was a mass shoplifting in progress with someone emptying shelves into a duffle bag. The week we moved out of state I-5 had multiple incidents of bricks being dropped into traffic. It is getting pretty bad.
Before moving, the maintenance man at her prior concierge job was sadly killed by a tenant who had made violent threats, because police resources were not available to accompany evictions due to the ongoing riots and CHAZ nonsense.
I think that some places will go back to Victorian style shops. They had many shop assistants, who were needed because the goods were behind the counter, instead of being on open shelves. Customers had to ask at the counter; no shop-lifting
The cops in a lot of cities in the US seem to be completely incompetent at actually enforcing things that matter and go whole hog on enforcement that most of society disagrees with.
When it comes to shoplifting the problem is the law, not the cops. In many places there is, in effect, no legal penalty for shoplifting even if "caught". Here in New York shoplifters are not prosecuted. Even if "arrested" they are issued a desk appearance ticket and are back at the same store in hours to shoplift some more.
Just pointing out that’s not a problem with the law, it’s a problem with enforcement policies (aka select free passes on laws) in most cases enacted by fiat of elected officials.
And, how, pray tell, are you supposed to do that? The police are rarely on hand when it occurs.
Furthermore, what level of force are you willing to authorize to go recover a couple hundred bucks?
The "Big Box" stores optimized their stores to minimize staff and now are suffering the consequences. No sympathy. Redesign your store to deal with the issue and put the staff back.
Yet it is so strange how these situations only occur in major west coast cities with city councils and da's who actively encourage lawlessness and theft.
Many moons ago, the HEB grocery store system in Texas used to have a lot of 24 hour stores. Then they had a rash of thefts and shoplifting, so they closed those hours off and relaid out the stores.
At what point was Texas full of city councils and DA's who actively encouraged lawlessness and theft?
And, seemingly, the current problem is that these things appear to be gang-related. So, just as with the "War on Drugs," you can pick off as many small fry as you want, but you really won't make any headway into solving the problem.
Cities need to be able to properly police. If the police don't do anything about crimes, then people are just going to commit more. I respect and understand there is limited resources the police have to work with, but as the article says, business owners across SF have been asking politicians for more support against petty crimes for a while.
I don't have a good solution, but this is a supermarket i'd frequent and would appreciate longer hours.