Where I live sounds a lot like where he lives in terms of property crime (this place is no pinnacle of law and order, quite the opposite really). People in my state joke about it being "bad" but unless you leave your $1k road bike unlocked within view of the street for a long time it's probably not gonna grow legs. You don't see people engaging in crime with a victim in broad daylight
It's a blue city in one of the bluest states in the country, if that's what you're asking. The social services are about as good as you're gonna find in the US. The city shares a border with a slightly smaller urban area in one of the lower service red states (they haven't even legalized weed yet, not that that's a service). That side of the river is not noticeably higher or lower in crime.
This rampant petty property crime problem seems to follow specific public policy, not any other variable.
Social services in LA are quite awful and have been since I was a child, from public transportation, to public education, to assistance for the homeless, to access to health care, to water quality, to police services (and corruption), to fire services, to road maintenance, to traffic management.
Much of this is due to the design of the region: the greater Los Angeles area is a sea of concrete in a desert, that extends for 100 miles in every direction. It's impossible to run as a region efficiently and requires a massive amount of effort to provide services for.
Central business district neighborhoods are generally wealthy and they tend to have some of the highest property crime rates outside of low-income neighborhoods. And it’s not because CBD’s are poor. Professional criminals understand it’s most profitable to steal where the money is.
You said they live in the “wealthy” part of the city. The point being, even in wealthy places like Manhattan in NYC or SoMa in SF there’s plenty of petty crime. In other words, crime is not exclusive to non-wealthy neighborhoods.
This isn't true. There are many poor communities where enforcement is effective and theft and crime are low too. It is all about the expectation of consequences and community standards.
Yes, many wealthy communities have lower crime. Criminals have easy access to many of these areas but don't go there to steal because the chances of consequences are higher. In contrast, there are communities where the thieves can steal with essentially no risk.
Just plainly asking: what's the situation with social welfare where you live?