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Comment by trafficante | Hacker News Reader

Plus the city cops are “quiet quitting”, which is a huge and rarely-discussed dysfunction that heavily contributes to demoralized citizenry failing to report crimes - maybe it’s uniquely a Portland thing? Are SF/Seattle people having this issue?

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Yes, overwhelmingly. In 3 experiences asking SFPD for help with property crimes (1 stolen car and 2 car break-ins), they seemed highly annoyed that I was even asking or reporting. My car was stolen 2 blocks from an SFPD station with a GPS tag. So I walked over, showed the cops exactly where the car was on my phone, and asked if they could send a car to meet me there. The dude at the desk rolled his eyes and told me to go get my extra set of keys and retrieve the car myself. No regard for the fact that that might be dangerous if the thief were around. And in fact, the thief was around. I walked past the car on the street, saw a big dude eating in the front seat, and kept walking. So I called the cops again and told them the thief was with my stolen car. They begrudgingly said they'd send a car, but didn't give a time estimate. 2 hours later, after repeated calls to dispatch, I was still hiding around the corner, occasionally peeking at my car, and the cops finally arrived. I told them the thief had walked away but I didn't know if he was still in the vicinity. The cops were pissed at me and said I shouldn't have wasted their time. They explained they can't do anything unless they catch the guy red-handed with the actual car. I get that, but it's not my fault they didn't show up for 2 hours. At least I was lucky enough to get my car back.

I feel bad for you, but you know what the answer is: LEAVE!

It's hard to say without actually knowing the internal workings of the police departments, but one thing that's happened in Seattle is that although the police budget did go up, the SPD is having a really hard time hiring, and a lot of that money has gone to headcount that has remained vacant.

I've certainly read theories that it's a malicious strategy of the police union to make the city council look bad, and the SPOG president has made some pretty shocking political statements, so it honestly wouldn't be that surprising.

I'm guessing it's a mix of both, but I can't really prove anything.

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