A thread about a smash and grab I witnessed today at Brannan and Embarcadero | Hacker News Reader

A thread about a smash and grab I witnessed today at Brannan and Embarcadero

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26 pointsilamont21 comments

I'd advise any tourist to go anyplace else in the US except SF. I'd take my chances in Camden, NJ.

"See West Memphis!"

... or East St Louis

One of the last times I went to SF with my wife for tourism, I was waiting for her outside of a Sephora shop in downtown (a very touristy area) while she made some shopping.

While I was standing just out of the shop, drinking from a bottle of water a huge guy (I'm 1.67m [5.47 feet] the guy was around 1.90m[6.2]) approaches me ands starts talking in unintelligible English. First I ignored him, but he got pretty close to me and started shouting. I kind of understood that he said something like "Im thirsty! I said I am thirsty, give me your water". It seems he was drugged or something... I got pretty scared, so I gave him my bottle and got into the shop.

Fortunately he did not follow me, but it was one of the worst experiences I've had in a long time.

Union square is really bad. Its full of homeless who harass tourists because they know they tourists are less likely to know how to react. In general the rule is don't engage, and if that doesn't work, keep walking.

It might be a touristy area but I regularly saw people injecting drugs openly on the street in that area. Hell, I once saw a woman urinating in the middle of a broad sidewalk in the financial district midday surrounded by people in suits walking about barely noticing.

The safer places in SF aren’t “nice” in appearance, they’re uphill.

20 years ago, I visited SF as a tourist. At a BART station, some guy was wondering around asking for random improbable amounts of change "so he could get home." I probably gave him a quarter, but he saw some paper in my jacket pocket, reached in, and grabbed it. Then he realized it wasn't cash (just a map), and exclaimed "Oh, sir, your papers!" like I'd dropped them and he was helping me by finding them for me. I'm pretty sure he was high on something (or got fried by something that got him high). It was so ridiculous that it was more funny than anything else.

Never had anything like that happen to me, before or since.

I think the point of the story is to show that you can take one of the most affluent cities in the world but if you have crappy policies, you still end up with a crappy city.

I am not sure why mechanical_bear's comment has been flagged. They have a point. We romanticize such misdeeds via content that we create, or publish or share. Then when a problem arises because of it we try to find a way around the problem instead of resolving it.

Stealing another's property is immoral and wrong. Despite all circumstances or history of the victim or the thief, theft is not right. Rather than condoning such acts we have movies or tv shows (content consumed by the general public) on this topic where the participants of such acts are glorified. Thus giving the impression that if you are not caught for your misdeeds, it is alright to commit them as much as you want.

Regarding the flagged comment, analogies are inherently flawed. Theft and rape contribute differently to the overall picture because they are different, not necessarily because of hypocrisy.

Regarding glorification of theft in fiction, it's usually either the gentleman thief stealing from the rich, or rarely the likable pauper using street skills to get a loaf of bread. I don't feel like these meaningfully contribute to any notion that "it is alright to [steal] as much as you want", nor to typical smash and grabs.

You are definitely correct that analogies are inherently flawed.

I suppose to be more direct, is Victim blaming ever the right course of action?

Thank you. I was not trying to be inflammatory or rude, but was making (what I thought was) a valid point.

Specifically for this crime, I don't think the outcome would be different in any other town with regards to a smash and grab. The thieves made a quick getaway in a car. How could they be tracked down any faster? As for leaving valuables in a car: don't leave them in a visible place. You'd think the tourists would have learned after the first car break-in on their trip.

Sounds like you're missing the point. When you have a city, a DA, and a political atmosphere that is soft on crime, you're probably going to get more crime.

I strongly disagree.

I live in a town of <15k, and I drive a Jeep. I don't even own a hard top for it, and it's open to the elements on at least three sides all the time. I regularly leave valuables in it and have never had an issue at all.

I used to secure the Pelican cases for my drones and such to the frame with a steel cable, to at least slow down thieves, but these days I don't even bother usually. It's insured if something does happen, but again - I've never had an issue at all.

The parent was not claiming that crime rates are the same in all cities. They were claiming that police in other cities would have a similarly hard time doing anything about a smash and grab like this (not agreeing, just paraphrasing).

> In Colombia, we arrest thieves.

Not to minimize their pain, but thought this was hyperbole considering areas of Colombia are controlled by ELN terrorists / gangs

> Not to minimize their pain, but thought this was hyperbole considering areas of Colombia are controlled by ELN terrorists / gangs

Tourists flying to San Francisco as tourists likely are not from those areas, and are likely generalizing to their country from the more specific place they do live.

Is this a person whose influence matters? Otherwise, story is dog bites man.

To stick with your analogy, when it’s an avalanche of dog bites man stories, maybe dog’s role in society needs to be reconsidered.

Furthermore, the guy has interesting bio: https://www.stephenmartinpinto.com/bio It appears he is involved with local politics as well.

I agree with you. It's clear the voters don't.

In 2020 Stephen Martin-Pinto ran for Board of Supervisors (aka city council) in the West Portal district (District 7) but was rejected as a matter of course (since he’s Republican). As a candidate, he was refreshingly honest about his positions. However, I was disappointed that he did not favor adding a lot more housing to his district. But he tweets now.

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