As San Francisco is learning how to cope without police in this environment, about 150 citizens of the Marina District have had enough. With the massive increase in violent crime as of late, and horrible police response times, approximately 150 of these citizens have decided to hire private security to ensure they aren’t a target.
While this was a thing before the pandemic, going from 70 to 150 private security officers is quite a jump. Speaking with CBS SF, local resident Katie Lyons said “We don’t feel safe in our neighborhood…We have an alarm, we have cameras on our property, but we want the extra security of having someone have eyes on our place.” Sounds like a reasonable idea given the statistics.
From January 1, 2019 to October 17, 2019, San Francisco reported 3,955 burglaries. In that same period of 2020, they saw 5,864. 2021 brought a small decline with 5,800 though. While it’s good 2021 has seen a small decrease, there is little doubt that has to do with either a lack of reporting due to not enough officers, or the people hiring their own personal security.
These attacks are attacks of opportunity. Criminals often take those with the least ability to resist. Given how stringent California is on firearms, and San Francisco has not had a licensed gun dealer since 2015, is it really a surprise that those who cannot protect themselves are the most targeted? It’s a simple concept really, and one the liberal capital of California just cannot seem to grasp.
Yet California seems to ignore its problems, and instead wants to push further laws against guns, and banning people from ‘ghost guns’ is next on their agenda. Maybe they should focus on banning Alec Baldwin from touching a prop gun again instead? Either way, California and San Francisco especially are worried less about protecting their citizens than protecting their image.
When visiting California, Australian singer Clinton Kane and members of his entourage were held at gunpoint by people breaking into his car. “We kind of heard glass shatter, and we looked over and we kind of knew it was our car already…three of us, two of my mates went over to the car, and as soon as we tried stopping them, they pulled out guns on us, all three of them, and then we ended up on the floor with our hands raised.” All in all the thieves made off with $30,000 in camera equipment. As of the time of writing, they have yet to be caught either, and honestly probably won’t be.
While Mayor London Breed is making a big case about her $100,000 bounty for information about these rampant auto burglaries, a car was being broken into just blocks away from her appearance. This car belonged to tourists from Seattle, Washington; another city being ravaged by crime as well. Making an offer of payments is great when people can figure it out. Between mask mandates, a lack of police patrols, and a general ‘worry about yourself’ attitude that California and America, in general, has undertaken, it’s no surprise this is happening.
The liberal left has reached a tipping point in California. They recognize their laws are causing problems, and the people are being forced to take matters into their own hands. For some, this has meant relocating as the pandemic made their jobs remote. Others hired private security or never walk anywhere.
Given the history San Francisco has for being a walkable city, this alone should be a crime. The only way the people will retake their city from the criminals is to set the standard for what they expect. Arming themselves, spending time getting trained on their new firearms, and being willing to defend themselves and others is the only way this turns the page. If not, SF will just become a bigger statistic…again.
