The San Francisco Chronicle has published a survey, according to which 45% of San Francisco citizens have experienced a robbery in the last 5 years. The proportion of those who have been burglarized in the past five years is higher among blacks (55%), and among people of mixed race (54%), than among white residents (43%).
The former San Francisco supervisor, speaking to SFC, has said that these percentages of personal experience with crime are "extraordinarily high."
When a car is broken into, and things have been stolen, there’s a sense of personal violation — especially if it occurred on the street where you live. The fact that you could have been out there when it happened, and what if you had interrupted it? Those things go through people’s minds.
San Francisco citizens' familiarity with crime can be seen in another testimony collected by SFC. For Anni Chung, president of the Self-Help for the Elderly association, the figure is surprisingly low: "I was surprised. If 75% had said they had something stolen, then I would say ‘yes, that’s pretty common'."
Defunding the Police
The data also show a deep disappointment of San Franciscans towards the police. Only 18% believe the police are doing a good job, to 41% who give them a low or very low grade. The SFPD's rating is worse among Hispanics (45% give it a negative rating) and among residents of mixed race (52%).
San Francisco was among the first cities to adopt a policy of defunding the police, which came out of the millionaire movement Black Lives Matter. And it has been the last, or one of the last, to rectify. But it has. The city's mayor, London Breed, found it necessary to justify the change of address:
We need accountability when someone breaks the law... Our compassion cannot be confused with weakness or indifference... My grandmother raised me to believe in 'tough love', in keeping the house in order, and we need it, now more than ever.
According to the SFC Chronicle, "The city was among many that tried a series of reforms after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, though it seemed to retreat two years later, most notably with the recall of progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin ".
