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Comment by mbgerring | Hacker News Reader

The Mayor of San Francisco appointed a tough-on-crime prosecutor who has spoken in public in favor of reviving failed policies like the war on drugs, purged employees hired by her progressive predecessor, and canceled investigations into police misconduct. You already have the most reactionary, cuff-em-and-stuff-em prosecutor you’re likely to get in San Francisco. So if crime is still a problem, you’re going to have to come up with a new excuse.

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Also, SFPD’s budget was not cut in the wake of protests against police violence. There was no defunding of police in San Francisco. You can’t blame their inaction on policies that were not implemented here.

Ummm, SF voters voted to make their police force "SMALLER"!

https://www.vox.com/2020/11/4/21537593/san-francisco-proposi...

Did you even read the article? They weren't meeting these numbers for a long time.

>The proposition also requires San Francisco to end a requirement that there be a specified number of full-duty sworn police officers assigned to neighborhood policing and patrol — a number law enforcement officials say has never been met due to resource constraints.

Yea, I did.

Down from 2398 in 2021.

Voter capped SPO at 1,971.

https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/sites/default/files/2021-...

No, we voted to give the city the authority to reduce the size of the police force. They haven’t actually used that authority. Nor have they reduce the police budget.

You sure?

https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/sites/default/files/2021-...

Chesa left office in early July. That's only a little over 3 months ago. If the situation hasn't improved in a year or two, you would have a point. Right now, it looks more like you are bending the facts to fit a particular political agenda.

The district attorney until last July was a very progressive opposite of tough on crime prosecutor named Chesa Boudin. In july he lost a recall election, and Breed appointed Brooke Jenkins who was also previously a DA but quit to support the recall election of Boudin. Jenkins has to run for the position in November - currently she's only serving the rest of Boudin's term.

So the 'tough on crime' stuff is very new, at the speed the courts move.

As for the police, the people said they hate the police and the police heard them loud and clear, and are leaving on their own. For the same reasons, far fewer people are interested in joining their police force.

Why be a police officer in a place that hates you?

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-grap...

https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-police-department-shortag...

As I point out downthread, it will take time for this to manifest. Compare and Contrast Daly City/San Mateo county. It's not like the USSR where you bring in a show team to convict and send everyone to the Gulags overnight and instill fear through marxist means. No, this takes time and effort to turn around. From Koch to Dinkins to Giuliani --it takes time to tamp down crime.

For things to straighten out support for rule-of-law has to manifest from bottom to top and back. From Citizens, to Public Figures, to Influencers, to Representatives, to Captains, to Prosecutors, DAs and the Mayor. We have some of that. You can't have situations where the police try to arrest someone and you get a mob questioning police motives and then complain when the police don't come.

That’s crazy, I actually show up every morning to do my job without the Mayor personally telling me that I’m brave and handsome every day. There’s a fair amount of stickers outside my apartment that say things like “Die Techie Scum,” and yet, I keep showing up for work to do the job I get paid to do.

Maybe we should find some cops who are capable of doing the job they’re paid to do, instead of insisting on a wholesale cultural revolution to protect their fragile egos at all costs.

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