Comment by curiousphil | Hacker News Reader

Comment by curiousphil | Hacker News Reader

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"About half the cases here are thefts from vehicles, smash-and-grabs that scatter glittering broken glass onto the sidewalks."

This is way too close to home... Was in SF for GDC 2016 about a month ago when my crews vehicle window was smashed (in the Moscone Center Parking Lot) and 5 backpacks full of MacBook Pros, iPads, cash and an expensive digital SLR with even more expensive lenses were swiped in the blink of an eye. We had dropped our stuff there and grabbed a bite to eat when we came back to the horrific site of our rental vehicles window shattered all over the ground.

Just the night before we were noting how incredibly quiet SF was at night after 9:30pm. Apparently a quiet city is NOT a crime free one.

The security guard and guys in the booth at the parking garage were less than helpful despite there being a variety of security camera screens/cameras. When we called the cops they said we could wait there for an officer but it might be hours so we best just go to the nearest station and file a report. A month out and we've heard nothing on the case despite there being about $20k of belongings grabbed. We didn't really expect to hear much based on their response.

Yes I realize it was incredibly stupid to leave that amount of valuables in a vehicle in the city. Lesson learned there. In our city (Boise) you can practically leave your keys in the ignition without any concerns. Thankfully we paid for the no hassle insurance on the vehicle and our company insurance covered most of our stolen goods. It was still a big loss though and a major hassle. I'll never be so naive again. Hopefully someone reading this can learn from our mistake as well.

Lived in Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle for a couple years, once someone smashed the car window to try to grab stuff in a backpack I had in plain view. It only had empty water bottles in it, but they broke the window I had to have fixed. I learned to never leave anything that could be construed to be worth any amount of money in sight in a car I'm not in.

Then we moved to Bellevue, thought we got away from the problems of the city. My wife leased a new car and the same night someone smashed the rear window out with rocks, apparently just for kicks as nothing was taken from the car.

At trailheads for hiking routes, I often see smashed glass all over the ground. In a city the probability of crime may be higher, but it seems like that kind of stuff could happen anywhere.

I've heard advice that if you don't have any valuables in the vehicle, leave the windows rolled down and the lock unlocked so anyone who thinks they can steal something won't do much damage getting in, and the fact that it's open in the first place discourages them from believing there'd be anything valuable inside.

I've seen stores leave tills empty and opened after they close, presumably for the same reason.

In San Francisco, if you leave anything worth more than a couple hundred dollars in your car, it's as good as gone.

It took me a while to get used to the level of crime in SF too… it's so different from even North San Jose or Mountain View.

In San Francisco, if you leave anything worth more than a couple hundred dollars in your car, it's as good as gone.

I'd go further than that. If you leave anything in your car, you can count on it being broken into. A jacket on the floor is enough for them to smash a window to see if there is anything valuable hiding underneath.

Sucks for GP but this is true in any major city. Leaving valuable gear in sight is inviting theft.

It's not true in Brooklyn. I've left all kinds of things visible in a car and not had a single break in in 15 years. It's easy to make assumptions but from an outsiders perspective SF feels out of control at this point.

This isn't true in NYC, Mumbai, Singapore or London.

Interesting that it isn't true in Mumbai. I would have expected far worse, given the level of poverty. What's the reason?

It's called "law enforcement". If you try to pull off a bunch of smash&grabs in Bandra or Colaba the cops will beat you with lathis. Law enforcement is far from uniform - many neighborhoods (e.g. Baiganwadi) don't have much of it. But no one parks their car in Baiganwadi.

What seems to make SF pretty unique is that even in the wealthy areas it lacks effective law enforcement.

Also, poverty in Mumbai isn't quite the same as poverty in the rest of India. Significant portions of Mumbai approach US-"poor" levels of income (about $15-20k/year, PPP adjusted) which is considered quite wealthy over here.

> It's called "law enforcement". If you try to pull off a bunch of smash&grabs in Bandra or Colaba the cops will beat you with lathis.

Where I live thieves are often beaten to death. And the rate of theft is still high. I could point you to some studies about punishment not being an effective crime deterrent, but not sure it would change your mind. It's a complicated problem and law enforcement is a band-aid at best.

Do you think crime would not increase if punishment were reduced?

Fundamentally I think law enforcement is just one piece of the puzzle. Intrinsic factors (culture, biology, economics, psychology) also play a major role - all else held equal, the US is likely to be more violent than India (important exception being sexual violence). But law enforcement does matter - how else to explain how clean little India is in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur?

I'll certainly look at your studies.

Seriously lol at replies to this that think it is not true in NYC.

I live in SF and when I first showed up here, I too was really unaware of how bad the problem was. My car was broken into 6 times, once for only the change in my ashtray! (I can only assume, there was nothing else of value in the 99 corolla!)

Eventually I just sold it.

Maybe I'm jaded, and please don't take this as victim blaming, but why on earth would you not put that much gear in the trunk rather than leaving in a seat!?

It was a Chevy Tahoe... It was all in the rear cargo area. Tinted windows... but that's about it.

Thx for explaining calmly! Was hesitant to post, but your case was too outlandish not to ask. So many SF friends have been bitten, some repeatedly, and I just can't fathom why someone wouldn't use their trunk, especially after having their laptop stolen twice in a month!

It's one of those mistakes you only make once in life. Now I wouldn't even dream of leaving my backpack in my car in my relatively low crime city that I previously never would have given it a second thought. It's a little sad that my entire world is now less trusted because of this invasive incident.

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