San Francisco is notorious for poop maps, aggressive panhandling, smashed car windows, and a soft-on-crime approach they teach at those Somali Learing Centers.
I’m kidding about the Learing Centers, of course. Everybody knows they have no students at those. Or teachers. But I digress.
Maybe the worst example of San Francisco’s live-and-let-slowly-die-out-in-the-street attitude is the notorious Hyde St. open-air drug market, right next to the U.N. Plaza. It’s some of the finest real estate in the world, marred by a heartbreaking combination of homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health issues — and how all three intersect with debilitating and deadly results for all the world to see.
But it was the day-to-day so-called “lifestyle crimes” that gave the city such a nasty reputation, from prostitution to panhandling to car break-ins.
The break-ins got so bad that some residents started leaving their cars unlocked and windows rolled down, sometimes with little notes saying things like, “There’s nothing to steal in my car. Please don’t break glass.” And then some frustrated thief might break a mirror or whatever just out of spite.
It says so much about San Francisco that this sort of thing got to be thought of as a mere lifestyle crime, along with pooping on the sidewalks and shooting up on Hyde St.
Well, this former city resident — I only lived there for two years, but within two months, I had unlocked panhandler dodging Expert Level — is happy to report that San Francisco has made remarkable progress against crime.
And all it took was one of those “one weird trick” moments that the rest of us had waited for decades for city residents to use.
First, the numbers.
In just two years, car break-ins are down 85% from their previous highs. Robbery is down 30%. Burglary is down 33%. And most impressive of all, homicides haven’t been this low since 1954. To give you an idea of how long ago 1954 was in San Francisco terms, the city was on its fourth in a string of five consecutive Republican mayors.
All of these figures are courtesy of Austin Justice, an X account that tracks “Austin’s rogue criminals, prosecutors, and politicians.” I suspect “Justice” looks at San Francisco with Texas-sized envy — and who saw that coming?
The real question, though, is, “In two years since what?”
In 2022, voters finally had it up to here [hold hand six inches above head for visual effect] with the city’s soft-on-crime/George-Soros-sponsored district attorney, Chesa Boudin, and recalled him with a solid 55% majority. Mayor London Breed appointed Brooke Jenkins to the job as Boudin’s interim D.A., and she was elected to a full term in 2024.
Jenkins has her own troubles, including committing two acts of prosecutorial misconduct, resulting in her placement in a mandatory diversion program to teach her the errors of her ways.
But there’s one thing Jenkins does exactly right, and it’s that one weird trick that works so well against crime: She actually prosecutes criminals.
Jenkins isn’t shy about it, either. She speaks loudly about bringing criminals to justice, and she carries a big prosecutorial stick.
All since 2024, when Jenkins and SFPD made big changes.
More from A.J.: “In 2024, SF activated 400 license plate readers and deployed 80 drones citywide. This tech feeds officers live intelligence on suspects in motion. Drones alone have assisted in 1,000+ arrests since then. The technology lets authorities solve crimes as they happen rather than depend on much more intensive, legally perilous post hoc investigations (which ironically are often more intrusive than using tech).”
The results speak for themselves, and the city is at least somewhat more livable again.
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