I still haven't seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe there's anyone choosing to be soft on crime, I know there's tons of back and forth on this but it just rings as people idly speculating to me. Only useful info I've found is people on both sides of the divide decrying police won't take reports for car breakins/thefts[^1^], and response times are high
[^1^] the latest set piece I saw with this was fascinating, two people victim of same crime, drawing two opposite conclusions from lack of interest in taking a report, both only from injecting ideology
Go read about the echo park protests from a few years ago.
Not only are a very vocal progressive lot of people in socal being soft on crime, they're protecting the unhoused rights to commit crime. Ostensibly this is human rights in action, but I believe it's helping the well off feel better about nimbyism by telling others how dare they kick homeless out of their neighborhoods (because dear God they may come here)
I looked there and I looked at my city. My city has worse statistics than SF, but it doesn't have as many liberals so it doesn't work as well in a scare narrative. I wouldn't consider my city anywhere close to a dystopian hellscape as some depict SF, and they certainly aren't soft on crime here.
I can't think of an acronym I dislike more than NIMBYism. By its own nature, it posits the alternative as being outright for anything is a better option.
[^1^] the latest set piece I saw with this was fascinating, two people victim of same crime, drawing two opposite conclusions from lack of interest in taking a report, both only from injecting ideology