San Francisco Mayor London Breed Makes ‘Remarkable Concession’ at City Hall on Smash and Grabs – Opinion

We reported earlier this month on how San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, had initally announced a wholly inadequate response to the smash and grab crime wave that has hit the state of California – her city and other major ones in the state, in particular – quite hard this year, especially as of late with assaults and murders of security guards now taking place.

In a nutshell, the “solutions” involved restricting parking and access to retail areas as well as canceling planned vacations for police officers on an already-demoralized force that like many other police departments in Democrat-run cities across America has been plagued with retirement and recruiting issues galore thanks in large part to city leaders like Breed eagerly advocating for partial or complete defunding at a time when violent crime is on the rise.

Breed abruptly reversed her position yesterday, declaring in a heated press conference held at City Hall that Breed is ready to take a tougher approach in combating the smash and grab crime plaguing San Francisco. The major reason people are leaving this iconic American city is because of it. What’s the surprise? Breed’s plans involve relying more heavily the police:

Mayor London Breed launched an emergency police intervention in San Francisco’s crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood Tuesday, targeting a pipeline of illegal drugs that has been fueling a surge in gun violence and deadly fentanyl overdoses.

[…]

“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 more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerate of all the bullsh*t that has destroyed our city.”

Watch:

San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it’s time for the “reign of criminals” to come to an end, and decries “all the bullsh*t” that has destroyed the city.

Read more: https://t.co/ySXjPLlLJD pic.twitter.com/xnTCV71WLR

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 16, 2021

New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin appropriately called it an “extraordinary moment” and a “remarkable concession” considering Breed’s prior rhetoric and actions on defunding the police:

A remarkable moment in an American major city, and a surprising concession by a leader.

The sitting mayor of San Francisco – at a formal news conference – decries “the bullshit that has destroyed our city.”https://t.co/7ai9Y4rcfr

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 15, 2021

Twitter thread posted Tuesday, Breed highlighted her “new steps to address public safety in our city”:

These include:
➡️Executing an Emergency Intervention Plan (TL)
➡️Secure emergency funding from the police for resources that are needed
➡️Amending our surveillance ordinance so law enforcement can interrupt crime in real time ,
➡️Stopping the street sale of stolen goods.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) December 14, 2021

She made sure to pass along reassurances to her diehard liberal followers that she hadn’t totally abandoned her “woke” philosophy when it comes to reimagining city policing.

“We will do this while continuing long-term reforms like our Street Crisis Response Teams and the expansion of mental health beds,” she wroteWe acknowledge that that “we also need there to be accountability when someone does break the law. San Francisco is a compassionate city, but our compassion cannot be mistaken for weakness or indifference.”

In the famous words of Bruce Willis’ “John McClane” character in the Christmas (?) movie “Die Hard,” I’d like to give a big “welcome to the party, pal” greeting to Breed.

Not to be forgotten, Breed isn’t the only Democrat Mayor of California who has gone public in recent weeks in order to highlight how desperate she felt to have police involved in solving the city’s problems.

In late October, Oakland’s Democrat Mayor Libby Schaff made her most aggressive push to date in demanding the city council reverse course on their June vote to partially defund the police. But unlike Breed, Schaff made it clear well before November that she was not on board with the Democrat-run city council’s desire to take money away from police departments.

And L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, too, has spoken out often against so-called “progressives” targeting law enforcement for defunding, but he’s long been a rare sane voice of reason in the deep blue city.

Back to Breed, while it’s good news that it appears she’s been mugged by reality, at least for the time being, let’s not jump the shark here and shower her with praise. Defunding the police has always been a DUMB idea, no matter who proposed it, especially considering the fact that the “leaders” who are on board with it don’t have to worry about security themselves since they get taxpayer-funded protection or get paid enough (Breed’s salary is around $340,000 year, the highest for a mayor any city in America) that they can write a check for private security whenever they feel it’s necessary.

When idiotic ideas get introduced into the public debate, that’s the ExactLeaders need to be bold and courageous in this moment, rather than joining the braying mobs. It’s not bold nor courageous for anti-police types like Breed to conveniently flip a switch Only whenThey have no other options.

One thing is certain, however: can thank Breed for is not taking a “blame the victim” approach when talking to the press about fighting back against organized crime efforts, which is exactly what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did last week when pointing fingers at everyone but herself for the smash and grab sprees taking part in her neck of the woods.

There are silver linings, and that is all.

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