{"id":1354437,"date":"2022-03-02T08:03:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354437"},"modified":"2022-03-02T08:09:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:09:28","slug":"san-francisco-da-boudin-says-exploding-crime-in-city-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-policies-effectively-legalizing-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-francisco-da-boudin-says-exploding-crime-in-city-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-policies-effectively-legalizing-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco DA Boudin Says Exploding Crime in City Has Nothing to Do With His Policies Effectively Legalizing Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsan-francisco-da-boudin-says-exploding-crime-in-city-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-policies-effectively-legalizing-crime%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354437&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Yesterday, <em>New York Times Magazine<\/em> published an interview with San Francisco\u2019s progressive DA Chesa Boudin. Not surprisingly, Boudin is firmly convinced that none of the problems in San Francisco are his fault. He literally says as much in his first answer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/03\/01\/magazine\/chesa-boudin-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to a question<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Your critics make the argument that your policies, and by extension progressive prosecutors, create a perception of permissiveness that emboldens criminals. What\u2019s your response?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was clear as a candidate, and our efforts have followed through, that we would focus resources on crimes that cause the most harm: violent crimes, murder, sexual assault. Those are where our charging and conviction rates have gone up. If you are someone who believes in a tough-on-crime deterrence model of the justice system or public safety, then that model must begin with the police making arrests in a high percentage of cases. With theft in San Francisco, people believe they can get away with it because only 2 percent of reported thefts result in arrest. We can hang people in the town square, but the most effective thing at deterring crime is certainty of arrest. But the police make arrests in less than 3 percent of reported auto burglaries. Not blaming the police: These are crimes that are hard to make an arrest in. Because of that, people don\u2019t fear consequences. It has nothing to do with my policies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When the interviewer points out that San Francisco seems to have a particular problem with retail theft and property crime, Boudin claims that\u2019s happening everywhere and, again, has nothing to do with him:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I went to New York in November to visit my dad when he got out of prison, and we went to Duane Reade. We wanted to get him basic things: deodorant, a hairbrush, a toothbrush. We went in, and even deodorant, which was like five or six dollars a bar, was behind plexiglass. People on social media would have you think that it\u2019s only in San Francisco where people are so desperate that they\u2019re going to go into Duane Reade or Walgreens and shoplift. The reality is that\u2019s a feature of modern American urban life, in large part because of the horrific wealth inequalities, the poverty, the lack of access to housing, the internet marketplaces where people can resell stolen products. Those trends are national and have nothing to do with me or my policies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Finally, the interviewer pushes back on Boudin a little bit and again Boudin\u2019s answer basically comes down to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/03\/01\/magazine\/chesa-boudin-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>it\u2019s not my fault, blame the police<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>I brought up property theft in San Francisco<\/strong><em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>and you made a comparison with Manhattan. But Target\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>is<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0limiting its hours in your city, and Walgreens\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>is<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0closing stores explicitly because of too much theft. There\u2019s also those viral videos of flash-mob robberies \u2014\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sorry, David, you\u2019re saying you didn\u2019t see videos of flash-mob burglaries in other cities?<\/p>\n<p><strong>I haven\u2019t, no.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chicago. Walnut Creek. The notion that this is a San Francisco problem is demonstrably false.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Then that\u2019s my mistake. But property theft in San Francisco is a problem. What needs to be happening differently to address it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The major change that has happened when it comes to retail theft in particular is that stores like Walgreens have decided\u00a0it\u2019s not in their interest to have their security detain shoplifters. The reason is that the police almost never make it to the stores in response to a shoplifting call in time to effectuate an arrest. They rely on store security to hold people long enough for the police to arrive. If Walgreens or Target or any other store decides that it\u2019s too risky, in terms of people getting injured or racial-profiling lawsuits or disturbing other customers \u2014 if those costs outweigh the benefit of having their staff make arrests, how do they expect me to prosecute? If the police can\u2019t make arrests, to then say it\u2019s the district attorney\u2019s fault simply doesn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This would be absurd coming from anybody but it\u2019s especially absurd coming from the DA. Other big cities are seeing similar crime in some cases but San Francisco is definitely on the cutting edge of this trend.<\/p>\n<p>I posted video of rampant shoplifting in San Francisco back in <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/john-s-2\/2020\/10\/23\/san-francisco-drug-stores-closing-shoplifters-strip-shelves-bare-n350833\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October of 2020<\/a>. Drug stores have continued <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/jazz-shaw\/2021\/10\/13\/more-ca-walgreens-close-due-to-organized-retail-crime-n422056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to close outlets<\/a> in the city since then because of these <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/allahpundit\/2021\/06\/15\/shock-video-shoplifter-brazenly-robs-san-francisco-walgreens-in-front-of-security-guard-n396839\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brazen thefts<\/a>. Other stores have <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/jazz-shaw\/2021\/11\/02\/another-store-in-san-francisco-cuts-losses-for-predictable-reason-n426425\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reduced hours<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/allahpundit\/2021\/07\/03\/target-to-close-stores-early-in-san-francisco-due-to-chronic-shoplifting-n400376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">closed early<\/a> to deal with theft. And what is Boudin\u2019s office doing in response?\u00a0About three weeks ago the <em>San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> published data showing how Boudin\u2019s office is handling theft cases.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-427786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/SF-theft-e1636391636741.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"287\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, charging rates for theft have been down sharply. And even for the reduced number of cases where his office brings charges, convictions are down:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-452136\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/theft-conviction-e1646154030674.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"256\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As always, Boudin had <a href=\"https:\/\/webcache.googleusercontent.com\/search?q=cache:FjATvQSCT4oJ:https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/crime\/article\/We-obtained-never-before-seen-data-on-Chesa-16592626.php+&#038;cd=1&#038;hl=en&#038;ct=clnk&#038;gl=us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">someone else to blame<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe had clear instructions from courts to delay and defer anything we could delay and defer, [and] from the medical director to drastically reduce the (jail) population,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the context of those really difficult decisions, we did make intentional decisions to delay or defer charging low-level nonviolent cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He claimed charging rates were back up as courts started reopening. And they were a little bit, though they are still well below where they were prior to his taking office.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-452137\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/theft-rates-e1646154174790.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"351\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Of course Boudin\u2019s interviewer doesn\u2019t bring up any of these specifics, which allows Boudin to simply blame everything on the police and leave it at that. But as you can see, his office hasn\u2019t been charging the cases police did bring him as aggressively as his predecessor (fellow progressive DA George Gascon).<\/p>\n<p>So there\u2019s a pretty clear answer to why police aren\u2019t rushing out to arrest shoplifters in these cases. It\u2019s probably because they a) don\u2019t have the manpower for it and b) know it\u2019s a given that anyone they arrest will be released within hours and probably only charged about 1\/3 of the time. Why waste their time on cases they know the DA won\u2019t prosecute?<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t leave this article without highlighting a few responses from readers who weren\u2019t impressed with Boudin\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/03\/01\/magazine\/chesa-boudin-interview.html#commentsContainer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blame-shifting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Let me see if I have this right. According to Boudin, Walgreens is closing stores because the police are doing a poor job with arrests. If only the police would arrest more shoplifters, his office could prosecute\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Except that his office decided to not prosecute any property crime less than $950. What\u2019s the point of the detaining someone, either by private security or public policing, if the prosecutor\u2019s has already said they won\u2019t prosecute?<\/p>\n<p>That outright lie is a good example of why he needs to go.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Another take:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Thanks for the revealing interview. To me it shows someone who frequently lashes out at perceived enemies, fails to acknowledge legitimate criticism and public sentiment, and lacks a positive vision for the future. To answer a question about crime in San Francisco by saying \u201cHave you seen Chicago?\u201d is stunningly clueless and will simply fuel the feeding frenzy against the excesses of San Francisco.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This last one is from a reader in San Francisco:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I live in SF, and am solidly not an elite \u2014 I can\u2019t live in a gated house in Nob Hill and take Uber everywhere. I rely on walking around and taking public transit and with the surge or violent assaults and property crime has essentially trapped me at home after dark. Boudin has failed to pursue charges and point blank told the police to not pursue people committing these crimes. He also has an abysmal record when it comes to dealing with domestic violence and crime against women. THAT is why we are voting to recall. Yes, a few millionaires and billionaires also happen to agree.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure this interview really helped Boudin, at least I don\u2019t see a lot of readers expressing support. I guess we\u2019ll find out how widespread opposition to him really is when the recall vote takes place on June 7. Finally, here\u2019s a recent episode of Megyn Kelly\u2019s show talking about Chesa Boudin and his adoptive family. If you haven\u2019t heard some of this before you\u2019ll find it eye opening.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, New York Times Magazine published an interview with San Francisco\u2019s progressive DA Chesa Boudin. Not surprisingly, Boudin is firmly convinced that none of the problems in San Francisco are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}