You live where? In SanFran or SoCal?

If so, do you read the newspapers? Do you visit read neighborhood social media site? Do you drive around and look out the window of the car? Have you been downtown lately? Have you stepped over people sleeping on the sidewalk? Do you see the homeless camps in public spaces? Do you smell the stink? Or do you live in a gated community surrounded by private security and receive all your groceries and goods while safely inside the guarded gates?

I live in SoCal and there is a huge problem here.

And it’s about to get worse as the LA DA has all but stopped prosecuting crimes and is working to free 10s of thousands of prisoners many are violent offenders.

Headed for the attic: California resident here. Prop 47 reduced the penalties for many crimes and re-defined what violent crimes meant in some sexual assaults. With reduced bail, and in some cases, no bail, perpetrators are released, quite literally, before the cops finish the reports. Residential burglars are not seeing significant jail time. An associate of mine from my LE days told me that there are crews who are doing burglaries while people are home, knowing that most of the victims will take refuge in their bedrooms while they pilfer the house.

There are now attempts to decriminalize other crimes as well. The DA in Los Angeles, former DA in SF, no longer seeks gang enhancements or gun enhancements. Just yesterday, there was a report of a drug stores closing stores in the SF area due to organized theft rings. Sadly, Cal was a very safe place not long ago. I'm not all that knowledgeable about photography, but was in law enforcement for 35 years. Murders are up double digits in Los Angeles, and I imagine in SF as well. We are going back to the softer sentencing on crimes that was prevalent in the 1970s, and the results will be the change...increased crime.

For those of you who may be inclined to use some sort of deadly force to protect your goods, this was not a robbery. It was a grand theft. Robbery is taking something from someone by use of force or fear....my quick read was that this was a "snatch and grab." Protect yourself from imminent serious bodily injury, but do not use deadly force to protect your gear...

Sad state of affairs.

It’s easy to repeat things, especially if you have no knowledge or sense.

At least I have direct local experience, and I pay attention. Things are far from perfect but the issues are being addressed steadily.

I’d rather live here in SF than other places I have mentioned. Yes there is a homeless problem but we have initiatives to address (some) of that.

One of the reasons that we have a homeless problem is that our climate is fairly benign. If I had to be homeless I’d rather be here than in New York or Detroit and so on.

Perhaps we are better off without your friends and family.