[shados]

That's a trend all over the country. I read an article about Seattle almost completely giving up on this type and other non violent crimes. The east coast, like in Boston is getting there too. If no one is about to die, just shut up and deal with it.

[noodle]

AFAIK one of the causes in Seattle (can't speak to SF) is a lack of police resources - the population boom left them kind of far behind. Seattle has ~20 officers per 10k residents. To compare, Atlanta has ~30, NYC has ~40.