San Francisco Mayor London Breed stunned Bay Area liberals Wednesday when—using language not often heard from a politician in a public setting—literally called “bulls—t” on surging crime in the city’s Tenderloin District.
The mayor, a Democrat in a city that has been run by liberal Democrats for decades, has launched what the local CBS affiliate described as “an emergency police intervention” to put the brakes on a very bad element.
“It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” Mayor Breed 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 bulls–t that has destroyed our city.”
The Daily Beast described the Tenderlin district as one of the city’s “most notorious neighborhoods.” The report said Tenderloin “has long been plagued by open drug dealing and use, violence, property crime, and street encampments.”
“In just the past week,” the Daily Best reported, “police there seized more than 600 grams of the lethal opioid fentanyl, according to statistics released by the department. In nearby Union Square, gangs of robbers ransacked Louis Vuitton, Yves St. Laurent, and other luxury stores in November, crimes documented in shocking video.”
That video has been shown on Fox News and epitomizes a crime wave not confined to San Francisco. Breed’s actions suggest that even liberal politicians have a tolerance level, and the criminal element has crossed the line.
Breed is no newcomer to Bay area politics and being tough on crime. According to Wikipedia, she authored legislation seven years ago allowing the city attorney to “pursue civil damages” against graffiti taggers, and one prolific tagger identified as Terry Cozy got sacked with a fine of more than $217,000.
In 2015, the biography adds, she worked with then-Mayor Ed Lee “to help add 400 new police officers” to San Francisco’s police department.
However, she also “led the effort to stop a proposed $380 million new jail” for the city. Breed acknowledged her new tough-on-crime plan will make some people uncomfortable.
Her pronouncement Wednesday comes a year after she cut $120 million from the police and sheriff’s department budgets, according to the New York Post. The newspaper reported Breed’s turnabout is her reaction to “skyrocketing crime.” Homicides are up in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Oakland by 17 percent. Property crime is spiking, thanks to car break-ins and auto theft.
The New York Post, in a separate story, reported that thieves had broken into a California gun shop in Southern California to steal nearly 40 firearms in a smash-and-grab burglary.
