Yup, the cops I know here in San Francisco say it's a bad time to be a cop.
Also, the cops get blamed for things that are outside their control, like car break-ins, "They [the thieves] know that the most they'll get is a citation, so they'll be out on the street in a couple of hours," said Pete McLaughlin, retired.
Also we have a District Attorney (Chesa Boudin) who doesn't like to prosecute non-violent crimes, so rampant shoplifting has caused at least one CVS (at the corner of Eddy & Van Ness) to close.
The inability to lock these people up is frustrating, most of us aren’t blaming the police for that. Heck, it might not even be the DA’s decision (in Seattle, unlike SF, even if the DA wants to prosecute, it can be jammed up at the county level), and often it’s just a resource issue (too many low level property offenses, not enough lawyers and judges, or jail space). We need to be really in in tough on crime to fix those issues, and we still aren’t really. Policing is just one part of that, and right now is a horrible time to hire more police (like it is for hiring in other jobs ATM).
Also, the cops get blamed for things that are outside their control, like car break-ins, "They [the thieves] know that the most they'll get is a citation, so they'll be out on the street in a couple of hours," said Pete McLaughlin, retired.
Also we have a District Attorney (Chesa Boudin) who doesn't like to prosecute non-violent crimes, so rampant shoplifting has caused at least one CVS (at the corner of Eddy & Van Ness) to close.