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Comment by macinjosh | Hacker News Reader

> Cars are terrible for cities, doesn't bother me in the least that protecting tourist's cameras isn't an enforcement priority.

What a flippant and short sighted thing to say. I've known people whose car was broken into and had their medical devices, medication, and clothes stolen. That's more of a problem than a tourist's camera.

Regardless of your opinion on car transportation in cities the idea that victims of a crime should take the blame because they left something valuable in their car and locked it is the same as saying a rape victim is at fault for the crime because of what they were wearing. It is pretty sickening.

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Any crime is inherently evaluated as “worse” or “better” than another crime under most judicial systems, which is reflected in sentences and in allocation of police resources.

One can express their agreement with current allocation of resources without blaming victims for the crime, can’t they? To me, as to someone who knows a rape victim, likening car burglary to rape sounds much more horrific than that.

Did victim-blaming get edited out of the comment you were replying to after your post?

I see your point. To me, victim blaming was implied by implying tourists having their camera's stolen don't deserve help because they aren't street smart in SF. I am not saying police shouldn't allocate resources to 'worse' crimes but we shouldn't also say it is the tourist victim's fault (e.g. "They should've known better!". I think that's a slippery slope that is best avoided. I may have read too deeply into the intent behind that comment though.

> I may have read too deeply into the intent behind that comment though.

no, it absolutely did not

of course you can find a single example of a car robbery that isn't trivial.

Where did I say anything about it being someones fault? Of course in a perfect world there would be no theft but aggressive enforcement against car thefts isn't something I support in the real world.

It's also completely unenforceable. Pro theives use tools and you would think the guy owned the car if you saw someone properly break into a car, as there would be nothing to see. Can't have cops ask everyone to turn over their license and title for inspection for walking out of a car with a gym bag.

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