Are SF Car Break Ins a Free for All? Seems like it

Over the last two years data has been reported that Car Break Ins are decreasing and that San Francisco is just under its epidemic level that was reported in 2017 when there were 85 reported car break ins a day. Since then reported data in the news showed fluctuations in the data from 60 car break ins a day to now up to 80 at day.

We are very impressed with NBC’s report. They have put together a very thorough investigation of the San Francisco car break in epidemic. President on the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association stated in a previous article, “I believe there is a cycle of crimes that relate to this starting with illegal drug use. Since Prop 47 when felony drug possession and felony property crimes were changed to misdemeanor crimes it had reduced the length of the prison sentence too, in some cases, a citation and probation. Couple that with extreme reformist district attorneys declining to prosecute crimes, dismissing criminal charges, and offering lenient plea bargains is another issue. Lack of consequences has emboldened criminals. The ease of illegal drug use with highly addictive drugs perpetuates car break-ins to fund the habit and in some cases it perpetuates violent acts because of the effects of the illegal drugs. And on top of that, there is organized crime taking advantage of San Francisco’s leniency on crime. All of this puts San Franciscans in danger,” says Ken Lomba. 

NBC reported, “San Francisco’s nearly 30,000 car break-ins last year shattered previous crime records and illustrate an organized and elaborate crime operation that law enforcement calls an “epidemic.”

Of the nearly 30,000 car break-ins in San Francisco last year, the police department made arrests in just 1.7 percent of cases, totaling 790 arrests, according to data provided by the police department and district attorney’s office. Of those taken into custody, most were never sentenced to jail time.

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit installed four hidden cameras inside a vehicle to expose a rising surge of car break-ins across San Francisco
By Bigad ShabanRobert Campos and Anthony Rutanashoodech
Published Feb 25, 2018 at 10:56 PM | Updated at 1:35 PM PDT on Mar 12, 2018
Car Break In Free for All

We fear that some of the victims of the car break ins are not reporting the crime. It is as almost this has become the San Francisco norm. Recently the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association had started a poll on its Facebook Fan Page San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs' Association Facebook Fanpage and the results have been surprising. If you have a Facebook account we encourage you to like our page and take part in the poll. Our polling is trending surprisingly high, showing a trend of victims not reporting car break ins because they feel nothing is being done about it. That means the amount of car break ins can be extremely higher than what the data is reporting. This unfortunately means San Francisco car break ins are a Free for All.

Our association has a political action committee and we will be accepting donations to our PAC to advocate for legislation changes and politicians that will do something about this epidemic. Our fundraising site can be found at sfdsapac.com

The way to fix this is first to elect a stable and well balance district attorney like Leif Dautch. One that will be a working district attorney that has a plan to stop the car break in epidemic. The next step is we have to tighten up some of the laws that were changed under Prop 47 and enhance penalties for violating ankle monitoring and for violating probation. There also needs to be an escalation in punishment for repeat offenders to deter future crimes to “slow down the revolving door.”

With a District Attorneys election coming in November, two out of four of the candidates being a Politician and a Public Defender it may get worse because their policies may encourage crime. The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association vetted all the candidates and found the best one to be Leif Dautch for District Attorney.

“Paid for by the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association PAC.  Not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.  Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.”