A remark I saw about the decision to close some Walgreens locations in San Francisco amid reports of shoplifting caught my attention. “Shoplifting can’t be the reason Walgreens is closing, all their items are already locked up.”
When recounting that to others, I didn’t have to explain the absurdity of the statement. Of course they are locked up, because shoplifting is a problem.
The other day I was in line at Walgreens in downtown San Mateo and I saw a young woman walk out the store with several bottles of shampoo in her arms. The alarm sounded, but she kept walking, and no one even lifted their gaze. Not an employee, not another customer. It was if it didn’t happen.
Should I blame Proposition 47? The defund the police movement? Income inequality? Moral decay? Progressives? Republicans? All of the above? None of the above? Did I build a political theory on this one episode? No. As anyone who knows me well knows, I believe strongly that it’s not ever that simple. Everything is complicated and the roots are many. Though, I suspect citing and releasing rather than booking suspected criminals because of COVID played a role.
But shampoo shoplifting is not nearly as worrisome as the ongoing car break-ins, residential burglaries, gun violence and, ultimately, the deaths of innocent people. I’m thinking of the death of Jasper Wu, the 23-month-old killed by a stray bullet Nov. 6 on Interstate 880 in Oakland as two people exchanged gunfire around the car he was in with his mother. I’m thinking of the death of Kevin Nishita, the retired Colma police sergeant killed as he provided security to a news crew covering a story about crime in Oakland last week.
I’m not nearly as worried about high-end retailers that had goods stolen by organized mobs last week. The brazen crimes are worrisome, and there is concern of escalation, but I don’t worry as much about the companies. They will be fine.
It is somewhat concerning so much action and attention was bestowed upon the situation, however, especially since smash-and-grabs have become such an issue in the Bay Area for the past few years. Why was there no attention when regular people had their stuff stolen? We all know why. It’s money.
This is not some rant on the inequity of political attention when it comes to money, however, if you wanted to read this with that subtext, who am I to stop you?
Rather it is an observation that there is politicization of this situation. It suddenly becomes a battle between Fox News and those who hate Fox News. The media is to blame. It’s a ploy to recall Chesa Boudin. It’s a ploy to reduce the liberal policies of this area to a sound bite that says we are all crazy. Or that criminal justice reform is going too far.
Maybe it is. And maybe all of this is also a little true. Maybe the media is blowing this all out of proportion. Maybe there is a political end game too. That’s nothing new.
Yet focusing on whether the stories are overblown is the wrong approach. It’s distracting. There is an issue here and pointing fingers at each other is not the solution.
We may have to live with Zyrtec and baby formula behind a locked piece of plastic but that doesn’t mean other changes can’t take place. We can enforce our current laws and look at potential changes. Though Proposition 20 failed to tweak Proposition 47, perhaps changes can be made through our legislative process. As a society, we are making progress with criminal justice reform, and more can be done and should be done. But not every change is successful, and some should be revisited. Look at California’s Three Strikes laws, for instance. In 2012, we passed Proposition 36, which required that the third strike be a felony to impose a life sentence. This was in response to those with minor crimes getting significantly longer sentences than what was fair.
Change can take place, and should take place. Change does not equal the dismantling of our progress. It is part of the progress.
Collectively, we focus too much on messaging and politics rather than the true heart of particular issues. We can say honestly that crime is not rampant on the streets of the Bay Area and we do not live in a war zone. However, if we are also being honest, there are some disturbing crime trends taking place that show little sign of abating. This is what needs to be addressed. It’s not a conservative or liberal issue. Crime affects people in very serious ways regardless of political party. The families of Jasper Wu and Kevin Nishita know this all too well.
Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.
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(3) comments
Jon - Thank you for this! I've been feeling, overall lately, that there's been a breakdown in the concept of "rule of law" at all levels of society. When someone receives a subpoena and simply doesn't show up, when someone flies around my car on 101 at 80 miles an hour, when someone breaks a car window to steal a laptop, all the way up to, as you said, when someone does something that costs another, or many others, their lives, it destroys our trust in the glue that holds a society together. Yet, despite that, every single day I experience kindness, honesty, faith, and courtesy in my interactions with dozens and dozens of people. Remembering that, and knowing that we have the power to make changes to laws, adjust systems that cause massive inequality, and change hearts and minds keeps me going. Pointing fingers? Not really helpful. Thanks!!!
Mr. Mays, I’d agree that enforcing the law or rising crime rates should not be a conservative or liberal issue. However, there appears to be a difference in conservative or liberal areas where crime is not enforced and crime rates, especially violent crime rates, are increasing. Which political party is responsible for the current level of lawlessness and rising crime rates? “Progressive” (not conservative) policies aren’t helping to keep criminals in check. Just today, we hear about LA making 14 arrests of mass looters yet none of the 14 is still in jail. How many in the Bay Area have been caught and released, to commit more looting? We see the results of Prop 47, passed by Dems, reducing felonies to misdemeanors, directly contributing to our current spate of mass lootings. We have a governor, and local officials who have released thousands of convicted felons back into the Bay Area wild. We can make the argument crime and lawlessness affects people regardless of political party, but we can also make the argument that the level and enforcement (or lack thereof) of crime is related to political party.
Good article Jon and brings up a hot button of mine
We have too many laws. They load up our legal system with outdated and conflicting laws.
Always think about this whenever a new law shows up on the news and ballot.
How many laws does California have on the books right now? Thousands? Tens of thousands ? or more...
We should have sunset dates on all new laws. A HARD sunset date with a possible renewal through another ballot and that renewal should also have a HARD sunset date.
IMHO, this would keep the books cleaner and the weak to bad laws would drop off the books. Good laws would make it back to the ballot.
Also think this would force our representatives in both houses to actually negotiate earnestly and more often. They only have so much time in office and would require them to talk among themselves more often...before heading out to work on their re-elections (another hot button, but won't go there on this thread)
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