[Jochim]

The general criticisms are that the current state is worse than it used to be though.

That's simply not borne out by the statistics. Long term trends have been steadily down, and even in the short term:

2017-2022 [0]:

* ~9,000 fewer incidents in total.

* Rape halved.

* Robberies 2/3 of 2017.

* Burglary/Motor vehicle theft increased but Larceny theft decreased by more than both combined.

Q1 2017/2023 [0]:

* ~4,000 fewer incidents in total.

* Only Motor vehicle theft and Arson were slightly up on 2017 levels.

Q1 2022/2023 [0]:

* Total incidents down by 9.7%

* Burglary down by 11.2%

* Motor vehicle theft down by 8.5%

* Larceny theft down by 12%

* Assaults did increase by 2.2%

* As did Robberies by 13.6%

[0] https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crim...

[megaman821]

These are all too gameable. Some even go against the grain of common sense. You think if you include porch pirates that theft is down, or that everyone knows there is no point in even reporting it. Murder is the only useful thing to track as a proxy for other crimes, but even that can make things seem better than they are due to better medical interventions.

[bombcar]

Things like hospitals tracking gunshots and stabbing is harder to game, but a city can be relatively nonviolent and still feel like an absolute shithole of theft is petty and common.