In a lighted garage on one of San Francisco's busiest streets, a young man in baggy trousers and messy brown hair pulled down his pants. He had been hiding two pairs of stolen jeans with the tags still on them. He handed them to another man waiting nearby, took some money, pulled up his pants and headed back into another store on Market Street — home to the city's high-end designers and big-chain retail shops.Talk about a lack of respect for private property and the idea that laws should be made by people who have no ownership in the property.
The incident wasn't a one-off. These brazen acts of petty theft and shoplifting are a dangerous and all-too-common consequence of Proposition 47, a referendum passed five years ago that critics say effectively gives shoplifters and addicts the green light to commit crimes as long as the merchandise they steal or the drugs they take are less than $950 in value. The decision to downgrade theft of property valued below the arbitrary figure from felony to misdemeanor, together with selective enforcement that focuses on more “serious” crimes, has resulted in thieves knowing they can brazenly shoplift and merchants knowing the police will not respond to their complaints, say critics.
This will do nothing but cause shopowners to close in high crime areas.
BTW: This is how the police department gets to report fewer crimes since shop owners don't report these crimes anymore.
The solution is the Private Property Society where the property owner sets the rules for his property.
-RW
Too bad the store owner can't use violence like a gun to defend their property. We have homeless in Texas, but they would be less likely to get away with that behavior here.
ReplyDeleteMore Clown World from the West Coast.
Sadly it won't go this way because government in california prohibits it:
Deletehttps://youtu.be/eQEridEINzw
The link is to Car 54 Where are you? Toody and Muldoon Crack Down. In this episode the police brass learn that the people living and working in Toody and Muldoon's area are not following the law with regard to many minor laws but there is no major crime because the people make it inhospitable to criminals. They do so because Toody and Muldoon are too busy actually helping people.
So what is the libertarian solution here? It's clear these people don't give a damn about helping themselves and seem to revel in being pest. This is a clear example of where 'culture' matters. This is a mix of worthless drug addict along with questionable vendors thanks to a sanctuary city policy. It would be nice if we could round most of them up and send to a concentration camp. I'm sure at this point the property owners and business owners would cheer.
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco, Hostage to the Homeless
Failure to enforce basic standards of public behavior has made one of America’s great cities increasingly unlivable.
Heather Mac Donald
https://www.city-journal.org/san-francisco-homelessness#.XbowFHDib5E.twitter
If the police won't protect the stores, I'm surprised there isn't a private security service stepping in to protect. I'm sure the stolen merchandise would make up for hiring a few big guys to rough up anyone who steals from them. Word would get out and the homeless would find easier targets.
ReplyDeleteHow so? Not every business is a large store that can pass on those cost to the customer. Capturing them is a waste of time since the law will do nothing. The private guys have no authority over public spaces. If they are told to leave I'm sure some leftard will file a lawsuit on their behalf just because.
DeleteI'm probably wrong, but private security only works when they can use any and all means necessary to put a stop to the theft. That would include, I suspect, killing shoplifters to set an example.
DeleteProbably wouldn't have to happen more than once or twice before people got the idea that theft isn't a wise move.
As it is now, rent-a-cops can't do anything more than MAYBE hold someone while the police are called.
Like a lot of services, Lab Manager, or I should say most services, there isn’t usually one customer. I am a customer of a private security service, and I am sure if I was the only customer, it would be pretty costly. But I am obviously not. I see their vehicles everywhere, even businesses next to mine. So, cost wise it isn’t that much of a hit. Contrast that with before I hired these good folks, I had several thousand gallons of diesel fuel stolen from our bulk fuel tank. We got the people on our security cameras, got their vehicles, license plates, the whole deal.
DeleteCops came the next day, I figured this would be pretty easy. The officer was a nice guy, looked at all the video, said, “yeah, we know these guys, the hit a tire shop last week”. I think oh good, go get them, I may get my fuel back. The cop said good luck, these guys have been in and out of jail, it’s not worth our time just to have a judge let them go.
I could care less if these guys went to jail, I wanted my fuel back. But of course he wouldn’t tell me who they were. It was approximately $17,000 worth of fuel.
It was the first and last time I have called the cops. Haven’t had a drop stolen since I hired the security agency. We have had people try to break in to our shop, I get a phone call that the security alarm has gone off and they have men on the way, and they have beaten me there when I’ve been just a few minutes away. Haven’t had a theft since.
We had a problem at one of our rail spur yards where asshats were stealing parts off of equipment at night. This was before the security folks were hired and after the incident when I was stupid enough to call the cops.
ReplyDeleteI hired 3 rough dudes I knew (there is no shortage of them in Fairbanks) and they hid out on site at the yard, for just about a month, until one night the “bad guys” aka pos showed up to steal again. After they got 2 shotguns and an AR-15 shoved in their face and roughed up a bit, that yard hasn’t been touched again either.
So, Lab Manager, what’s the libertarian solution you asked? As Ben Franklin said, “mind your business”. Screw the cops, quit whining about the State not protecting you, and do what needs to be done.