Car owners understand shattered truth about state’s petty theft law
Broken car windows are a common scene on San Francisco streets, and some blame California’s Proposition 47.
March 4, 2020
Since raising the petty theft threshold in California, Prop. 47 makes anything stolen under $950 a misdemeanor.
In November of 2014, Californians voted to lower the consequences of these crimes in hopes of being able to focus on “more violent” criminals. While California has some of the highest property crime rates in the country, it’s surprisingly low arrest rate is most prevalent in the Bay Area.
While this law isn’t necessarily new, it has shown to have taken the biggest effect on Bay Area residents lately. According to SFgov.org, in 2018 San Francisco had 5,000 property crimes per 100,000 residents, which is among the highest in the country.
While this number continues to grow, it’s been said that police will do little if anything about it as long as what they took was under $950.
In San Francisco, where everything is expensive, it can be disheartening to come home and see a laptop has been stolen and that the police won’t do anything about it. Often, perpetrators steal items then go out on the streets and sell them for half value, which could be used for a myriad of things.
According to Rachel Michelin, the president of the California Retailers Association, “Shoplifting is not only hurting retailers but is also becoming a public safety issue for consumers, black-market dealers frequently cross state lines because they know California will go easy on them if caught.”
The black market is bigger than what most would imagine and a higher threshold allows crime rings to make a big check with little to no risk.
“It hasn’t personally affected me but my dad, who works downtown, has to deal with crimes to his car almost every day. He has to deal with broken windows and trash in and around his car,” said Jack Barnes ’21.
For a working person in the downtown area, it can be a constant worry about their cars being broken into while they are working. To put this into perspective, according to Repairpal.com, the average car window should cost anywhere from $200 to $450, leaving $500 worth at the low end of things to take once a window is broken.
In regards to the petty theft threshold and its possible connection to raising property crimes, Alejandro Martinez ’20 said, “Oh yeah, the amount of car break-ins in San Francisco and is outstanding and the high limit crimes I’ve personally witnessed allows most of them to get away with it.”
While there are more contributing factors as to why the property crime rate is so high in California, a major factor continues to be the petty theft limit, which undoubtedly makes it easier to steal than ever.