San Francisco's woke mayor has performed a dramatic U-turn on the 'defund the police' strategy as she called for 'more aggressive policing' to replace 'bulls**t progressive policies'.
After Black Lives Matter protestors demanded cities defund the police last year, mayor London Breed announced San Francisco would be one of the first to do so and sliced $120million from the budgets of its police and sheriff's departments.
But in an emergency police intervention on Tuesday, Breed made a screeching U-turn as she announced she was asking the city's Board of Supervisors for more money to be given to the police to stamp out drug dealing, car break-ins and theft.
Announcing a crime crackdown, she argued that San Francisco officers should get aggressive and 'less tolerant of all the bulls*** that has destroyed our city', as she went back on her plans to defund the police.
'It's time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,' she said. 'And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies.'
Breed called for progressive policies that have allowed criminal behavior to make a mockery of the city's famed tolerance and compassion to be replaced with 'more aggressive policing'.
'All of our residents, our workers and everyone who visits our city should feel safe no matter what part of town they are in. I know San Francisco is a compassionate city. We are a city that prides ourselves on second chances and rehabilitation,' the mayor said.
'But we're not a city where anything goes. Our compassion should not be mistaken for weakness or indifference.'
Mayor London Breed launched an emergency police intervention Tuesday aimed at curbing open drug use, brazen home break-ins and other criminal behaviors taking place in San Francisco's crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood and across the city
The emergency police intervention was aimed at curbing open drug use, brazen home break-ins and other criminal behaviors taking place in San Francisco's crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood and across the city.
In Tenderloin alone last month, there were six shootings, 20 drug arrests and 16 assault and batteries, according to CBSLocal.
Across the entire city last month, there were 3,375 reports of larceny theft, the majority being car break-ins, with SFPD's Central District seeing the most car smash-and-grabs, recording 876 last month.
Meanwhile, there was a terrifying 15 per cent increase in homicide across the city compared to last year, with 53 cases recorded so far this year alone, compared with 46 the year before.
Assault in the city also increased by more than 9 per cent from 2,075 last year to 2,2271 cases this year, while overall crimes shot up by 10.2 per cent.
Larceny theft also saw a massive 18.3 per cent increase from 24,474 to 28,947, according to crime statistics released by the San Francisco Police Department.
But robbery and rape across San Francisco decreased when compared with the year before, with robbery cases falling by 5 per cent and rape dropping by more than 13 per cent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking Wednesday, slammed the 'attitude of lawlessness' sweeping the nation, citing the mobs of robbers have targeted luxury boutiques in her hometown of San Francisco and stores in other cities.
On Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco police released a drug enforcement update for the Tenderloin, which is regarded as one of the poorest and most drug-infested neighborhoods in San Francisco
An estimated 90 people overran a Nordstrom Inc. store in the wealthy Bay Area suburb of Walnut Creek, California, on November 20 and made off with more than $100,000 of merchandise, escaping in cars that had their license plates removed or covered
A suspect was seen running away with an armful of merchandise after stealing from a Luis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square in November (left). Footage from the aftermath (right) shows the glass door was shattered in the incident, and the shelves were completely empty
'It's absolutely outrageous. Obviously, it cannot continue,' Pelosi said Wednesday. 'We cannot have that lawlessness become the norm. And these people have – they coordinate with each other. And they plan traffic patterns and the rest, so that they can reach their goal and depart very quickly.'
Although she said she agrees with the need for change, Pelosi did not endorse the mayor's plan to increase policing and review zero bail policies.
During her news conference Tuesday, Breed said she plans to introduce legislation that allows law enforcement officers real-time access to surveillance video in certain situations, as well as measures that would make it harder to sell stolen goods.
'What I'm proposing today, and what I will be proposing in the future will make a lot of people uncomfortable, and I don't care,' the Democrat argued. 'We are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable.'
She continued: 'In recent months we've not only seen a number of high-profile incidents of brazen robberies and car break-ins but also street behavior and criminal activity - especially in the Tenderloin - that has become far too normal and cannot continue to be tolerated.'
Her comments are a complete U-turn from earlier this year, when she announced plans to redirect $120million from the police department to a combination of new and existing programs for the African-American community.
'I want to change the outcome of African Americans in the city who are disproportionately impacted in the criminal justice system, disproportionately impacted by homelessness and a number of other disparities, even in our public school system,' Breed said when announcing the budget changes in February.
'And I wanted to make sure that these investments were going to make a difference.'
Part of the redirected funds will go toward a guaranteed income program, community outreach, youth development and arts and culture programs, KQED reported at the time.
In a statement at the time, Breed said: 'Reforms to any single system, such as the criminal justice system or the police department, must go in hand-in-hand with closing the gaps and ending the disparities that we know exist.'
Pelosi commented Wednesday on the 'outrageous' robberies, some of which were planned through online messaging apps according to law enforcement – that have are regularly taking place in the city and pointed to legislation being developed in the House to improve tracking of online sales, where stolen goods get pedaled
More than 45,000 incidents have been reported so far this year, up from last year when most people were shut indoors, but below the roughly 60,000 complaints in previous years
Under the plans, more than half of the $120million was set to be directed to mental health and services to help black homeless people, while another 35 per cent was to be used for education, youth services and job programs.
Five per cent was set to be used for directing police calls to non-criminal activity, for example having social workers engage with homeless people, according to CBSLocal.
'For those who truly believe that Black lives matter, it's important that we listen to Black voices. It's important that we allow Black people to lead this movement,' said Breed.
The movement to defund the police picked up steam during last year's protests following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
But as she called to redirect funds away from the police towards community ventures, it was revealed the city spent $2.6million on her security detail in 2020.
San Francisco spent $12.4million to protect Breed between 2015 and 2020, with the bill rising from $1.7million in 2015 to $2.6 million last year, according to information obtained by public transparency website Openthebooks.com and compiled by Forbes.
Breed's crackdown on crime comes after San Francisco police revealed on Tuesday that in the past week, police seized nearly a kilo of drugs, multiple weapons, $3,400 in drug money and arrested 17 suspected dealers in Tenderloin, which is regarded as one of the poorest and most drug-infested neighborhoods in San Francisco.
Over the last month there were also six shootings, 2O drug arrests and 16 assault and batteries in the 50-square block Tenderloin alone, CBS 5 reported.
Meanwhile, a report released by San Francisco's Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found homicides increased in San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland and Los Angeles by 17 per cent in 2021.
Police were parked outside a Fendi store in San Francisco on November 30 amid a rise in slash and grab thefts
Property crimes across the same four cities soared by seven per cent between 2020 and 2021, reaching a total of 25,000 in October, the New York Post reported.
PPCI added that property and violent crimes still remain below than historic levels, but arrests also dropped significantly for a number of crimes this year.
This year, just 19 per cent of shoplifting reports resulted in arrest, compared with 40 per cent just two years previously.
San Francisco's District Attorney Chesa Boudin charged just 46 per cent of theft arrests, a 16-point point since he came to office last year.
Breed, who met with a group of Tenderloin families last week, said 'hearing their stories is hard' and demonstrates exactly why change is necessary.
'Hearing their stories was heartbreaking. Just imagine if you had to walk your kids down the streets of the Tenderloin every single day with people shooting up (on drugs), selling drugs and because the sidewalks were so packed with people, you had to walk out into the streets in incoming traffic on a regular basis,' Breed explained.
'You got these brand new playgrounds where you don't even feel comfortable walking your kids to play in them because of everything you see around them so you don't feel safe.'
Breed's push for change comes as residents and visitors scurry past scenes of lawlessness and squalor across San Francisco.
Daytime shootings are occurring in the touristy Haight-Ashbury and just steps from the Opera House and Symphony Hall, drug dealers carry translucent bags filled with crystal-like rocks or stand outside the public library's main branch, flashing wads of cash while peddling heroin and methamphetamine.
Reports of larceny theft - shoplifting from a person or business - are up nearly 17 percent to more than 28,000 from the same time last year, with groups of brazen looters constantly breaking into stores and grabbing everything they could get their hands on.
Pelosi commented Wednesday on the 'outrageous' robberies, some of which were planned through online messaging apps according to law enforcement – that have are regularly taking place in the city and pointed to legislation being developed in the House to improve tracking of online sales, where stolen goods get pedaled.
She was asked to comment after Breed called for a crackdown on crime.
'The fact is that there is an attitude of lawlessness in our country that springs from I don't know where. Maybe you do?' said Pelosi, when asked about a spate of robberies.
'And some of it is, again, [targeted] high-level stores as the retailers have told us and some of it is your local Walgreens. But none of it is acceptable. And again, it has to be stopped.'
She touted a bipartisan bill at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers (INFORM Consumers) Act.
A map shows the locations of some of the major smash-and-grab robberies that have recently taken place in Southern California
A police officer stood at the site of a shooting in San Francisco in early November, when two people were shot in broad daylight in the city's Haught-Ashbury neighborhood, an area that has become overrun with young homeless people
National pharmacy chain Walgreens has closed 17 of its 70 San Francisco locations in the past two years, citing shelf raiders who have swiped every kind of product not behind lock and key. The retailer claims it needs to shutter five additional stores in the city because the soft laws on shoplifting have led to rampant theft.
Walgreens insists that San Francisco's rampant crime is to blame, revealing it spends 46 times as much on security at its city stores, which face five times as many shoplifting incidents compared with those elsewhere in the country
It directs online platforms to collect information on large third-party sellers, including their government ID, bank account, and tax ID information, while providing information for consumers to verify.
'Because what people do is they steal things and sell them online,' said Pelosi. 'They have to establish their legitimacy if they're going to be sold online.'
She also pointed to a Judiciary Committee bill to 'incentivize' online platforms to weed out sellers of counterfeit products.
Pelosi sought to contrast the organized robberies with other types of theft.
'And again, showing that people are not able to profit from that. It isn't like punish somebody stealing something to go home because they don't have the money to buy. This is about stealing for profit. They have to prove where it came from. It's outrageous. And it must, I agree with the mayor, it must be stopped,' she said.
'It's not just San Francisco. It's an it's an our entire country. And that's evidenced by the appeals that we are receiving from across the country for the legislation,' Pelosi added.
The recent spate of robberies that saw stores in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area ransacked by hordes of looters was organized on social media by people who often did not know each other, police investigating the incidents now reveal.
Meanwhile, requests to clean dirty streets and sidewalks are flooding the majority of calls to 311, the city's services line.
Overall, though, crime has been trending down for years. More than 45,000 incidents have been reported so far this year, up from last year when most people were shut indoors, but below the roughly 60,000 complaints in previous years.
San Francisco's well-publicized problems have served as fodder for conservative media outlets. Former President Donald Trump jumped in again recently, releasing a statement saying the National Guard should be sent to San Francisco to deter smash-and-grab robberies.
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