There have been less than 40 homicides in San Francisco so far this year, compared to 67 last year and 98 in 2009, but instances of other crimes are way up, led by smartphone thefts and other robberies. It's a Bay Area-wide trend that stands in stark contrast to most of the rest of the nation where crime has been trending downward.
As the Examiner reports, crime is up over 20 percent and S.F. is on track to seeing 55,000 reported crimes in 2013. Of those, "The vast majority — nearly 40,000 this year — are property crimes: auto break-ins, thefts and robberies that can also include an assault."
Police cite the prevalence of smartphones and tablets in use and readily available for the taking on public transportation as being one of the biggest reasons for the jump. But also it may be that more of these crimes are being reported than in previous years.
Elsewhere, crime rates are up even higher, with the South Bay seeing a 33 percent jump in crime, and Oakland continuing to see an increasing number of burglaries there was a 43 percent jump in burglaries there last year, and it's led to some neighborhoods hiring their own private security since the OPD has proved kind of useless when it comes to this.
What's going on Bay Area? Crime is down like 5 percent in L.A.! Violent crime has been trending downward in most every major city in the country. The murder rate being down is swell news, but everybody put away your phones. Now. This is embarassing.
[Examiner]
[Mother Jones]
