Police inaction is a long-standing problem that pre-dates the current DA by quite some time. SF police have not responded to garage break-ins or car break-ins for some time. They might show up 5 hours later, very annoyed, and take a report. Even if you have good quality HD video evidence. Even if you have a tracking device on the stolen property proving where it is. They will not gather evidence, collect fingerprints, or bother trying to solve the crime in any way. Even if you had them the case on a silver platter. Forget trying to get a detective involved. This was going on long before Chesa Boudin.
Part of it is housing costs and the department's difficulty filling open positions. Part of it is bad management of the police department: not having competent detectives dedicated to solving quality of life and property crimes. Some part is probably trying to make the current DA look bad because they're fighting.
SFPD has so far resisted any attempt at reform toward community policing or setting up dedicated QOL units. The city's broken NIMBY planning process ensures newly hired officers are not likely to be able to live in the community where they police. Fix those problems, then we can worry about prosecutions.
This response strikes at the heart of the issue. Until the wild distortions in the property market are fixed (imo, specifically until Prop 13 gets repealed or significantly amended) big, expensive cities in California will continue have increasing crime problems.
As you can probably imagine, community policing is difficult if you're not a member of the community. And as the cost of living goes up while property taxes remain artificially depressed due to prop 13, the disparity between what municipalities are able to pay for police (which is partially funded by property taxes), and how much those police will need to afford to live there, will continue to grow. It seems like a slow, self-reenforcing downward spiral that will only get re-set if the quality of life deteriorates to the point where people actually start moving out of these communities.
San Francisco has plenty of cops. They like to write tickets, do crossword puzzles, and play chess. (Go to the basement of any precinct.). Let's not forget drinking too much, and lucky if they finished a community college. I imagine those last few sentences are common observations at most Police Squads across America.
It's not prop 13.
As to homelessness---it's bad all over the west coast for obvious reasons. And no it's not because the widow whom rents out a room to a scary stranger so she can stay in the home she raised her kids in. I guess prop 13 is an easy target? There's a part of me that would like you Know it All's whom didn't live through opening a ever increasing property tax bill your wish of repeal.
Let's be real. Tech hate all unions. Many of you guys will be politely shown the door at 50. If you save a bit, and happened to score a home when younger; when you are puttering around the garage ruining the iPad with tools brought from Amazon, while wearing a fishing vest, calling your wife mom; you will cherish prop 13.
Part of it is housing costs and the department's difficulty filling open positions. Part of it is bad management of the police department: not having competent detectives dedicated to solving quality of life and property crimes. Some part is probably trying to make the current DA look bad because they're fighting.
SFPD has so far resisted any attempt at reform toward community policing or setting up dedicated QOL units. The city's broken NIMBY planning process ensures newly hired officers are not likely to be able to live in the community where they police. Fix those problems, then we can worry about prosecutions.