SF seems pretty insane these days. It makes NYC (even post covid) look like Disneyland.
Any evaluation vs. historical crime levels (especially violent crime levels) will reveal that this is little more than a blip. Yes, the Tenderloin is a complete mess. Yes, it's true that the DA is experimenting with measures that are different from the usual mass-incarceration approach. Yes, this is causing some issues.
The rest of SF is extremely safe by any reasonable standards.
They do not have the resources to respond to all crime anymore. They have to do triage with the depleted resources they have available. They only have enough officers on duty to respond to the most serious violent crimes (and sometimes, not even that.) Everything else is tier 2.
> For the proposed 2021-22 budget, the San Francisco Police Department’s allocation will decrease by $6 million, from about $668 million to $661 million. Those cuts can nearly all be attributed to decreased demand for police at the airport. However, in the following fiscal year, the city projects the police budget will increase once again to $689 million. That’s close to the police budget’s all-time high of $692 million in FY 2019-20. By way of comparison, in FY 2010-11, the police budget weighed in at $445 million.
https://www.sfweekly.com/news/is-san-francisco-re-funding-th...
They are nearly 50% below "fully staffed" officer levels. Ask any SFPD officer about this, or call a station. They're generally happy to complain and tell you all about it.
[1] https://nypost.com/2021/12/15/behind-london-breeds-defund-th... and numerous other sources; Google it.
This is bullshit. That's their job, to respond to crimes. What else are they doing with their resources?? They have resources enough to try to do the job, they just don't care enough to actually do it.
You don't report most crimes to the police because you expect them to solve them, anyway, because they won't even try, even if you can practically hand them all the evidence they need. That's true almost everywhere, not just SF. They're too busy with infractions that let them levy fines or confiscate lots of expensive stuff.
You do it to check bureaucratic checkboxes with private entities that you'll need to deal with to fix various related problems.
I lived in NYC in the 70's. Trust me, comparatively, even post-COVID, NYC is still Disneyland.
However, staying vigilant in the key subway stations on the around midtown seems to cover most of the feelings of risk.
editing - hopefully not coming off as dismissive of the legit very concerning crimes that have happened. It feels like the bad stuff that deviates from the norm is really bad vs crime in similar contexts/places in the 2010s, but beyond that never felt unsafe but perhaps a higher requirement for street smarts that didn't feel as important in 2010s NYC Disneyland for wealthy folks.