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I think this is a great point. As I understand the situation the police won’t bother with sub 1000 crime so I think they are way less likely to get a call or statistics for these sorts of crime. Maybe if we turn what’s left of the war on drugs into a mental health project then we can eliminate some of this. Doesn’t seem like there are any easy answers though.

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One problem is that a stolen iPhone is a >$1000 crime, in fact it passes the $950 threshold to be a felony in California[1]. Police don't have the resources to deal with every stolen phone.

When iPhones were new, my cousin was a police officer in a high school. Every time a kid stole an iPhone it was a felony on their juvenile record, and no one wanted that.

[1] https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-def...

It's not that the police won't bother.. the voters voted to decriminalize it essentially.

Before I left California, I had this argument with many of my liberal friends who did not believe me that their proposition would lead to this despite it stating it quite clearly in the text.

While arguing I was accused of being a right wing conspiracy theorist and spreading fox propaganda.

Now the chickens are home and Californians have no one to blame but themselves.

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