Thieves Know the Way to San Jose: It Sucks Out There

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

We just received this e-mail from a TTAC commentator’s friend in the SJPD.

Just finished working 6 shifts in San Jose. I can say from the front lines, stolen cars, burglaries, vandalism and theft are significantly up from where they were a few years ago. The bad times are back. I recommend you exercise higher than normal precautions regarding the security of your property and person. This story is just one example. It probably won’t make the papers but on one shift we had four trucks where the catalytic converters were stolen. Go figure. I also took more than the usual rate of stolen car reports. And if you think they’re stealing luxury cars, think again. The cars stolen were all worth between $300 and $4000. They were all parked on public streets in front of residences. Robberies are up. People are hungry and mean again. Take care and be safe out there.

[Update: Oops, time for a reading comprehension lesson. Sorry for the confusion.]
Robert Farago
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  • Kamikaze2b Kamikaze2b on Jun 18, 2009
    maybe i should buy a gun? Oh, yes, because that’ll really solve the problem. Again, way to address the symptom and not the cause, America. Instead of tackling poverty and thusly crime (you know, like most other nations have proven works) we’ll just arm everyone and let them shoot each other until it reaches a firepower homeostatis. Brilliant. I have no interest in solving problems, that's not my job. I work two jobs and pay a lot in taxes. Taxes that will increase when we give every single person food stamps and free housing. What is your solution? Saying something sophomoric like "do it for the children" "stop poverty" means nothing. Are you willing to work more and pay more so somebody else can get a free ride for years or decades? I'm not. I am a law abiding citizen, but if a person decides to steal from me I am prepared to defend myself.
  • R H R H on Jun 18, 2009

    psarhjinian> I don't have time nor interest to solve other peoples problems. Also -- solving them in probably one of the most corrupt cities in the United States is really not my problem either. I have enough of a job keeping a roof over my head & my wife's head, taking care of my rapidly aging parents and managing our own lives. My work towards solving the problem(s) has been voting independently at every election for neither of the major parties, for the candidate I thought would be best for the future of my city & country. Beyond voting, paying taxes (if calculated, I'm sure total taxes are > 50% of my salary), and donating to homeless shelters I honestly don't have time to do any more. After putting up with the city for my entire life (over 30 years) and paying taxes since being 16, it's time to give up & move on.

  • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Jun 18, 2009
    Are you willing to work more and pay more so somebody else can get a free ride for years or decades? I’m not. That's the kind of penny-pinching that's given the US it's current health and education system. It's also the same methodology that's killing the US carmakers: instead of addressing the initially expensive, politically unpalatable solutions, we'll just make the easy and quick ones to fix the problem in the short term. Crime tracks poverty directly, no matter how much people want to make it an issue of morality (and not an economic one) by demonizing the poor.** Address the problems created by poverty and disaffection and you address much of the reason people turn to crime in the first place. And yes, it costs money, but so does dealing with crime and health-crisis issues---only you've become used to paying for prisons, courts, police and emergency health care, so you don't see it. Yes, there would be overlap. Yes, it wouldn't be a fingersnap fix. Yes, you'd be paying for other people's welfare, but you'd be paying less in the long run and it'd be more humane. The alternative, of course, is just escalating gun ownership,*** but wouldn't it be better if we could solve the reason people need so many guns in the first place? ** Reagan was great for this. Remember the "welfare queen" he made up? Inspiring hate of the poor (and lionizing the tiny handful of self-made men) while ignoring the macroeconomic issues is an old, old tool of the very well-to-do. *** What people forget is that poor and desperate people have guns, too, and are more willing and able to use them than you might. Oh, and that pulling a gun significantly increases the risk you'll be seriously hurt.
  • Geeber Geeber on Jun 18, 2009
    psharjinian: Oh, yes, because that’ll really solve the problem. Again, way to address the symptom and not the cause, America. Instead of tackling poverty and thusly crime (you know, like most other nations have proven works) we’ll just arm everyone and let them shoot each other until it reaches a firepower homeostatis. No, it doesn't. We greatly ramped up spending on social programs in the 1960s and 1970s. Crime rates also exploded. We reformed welfare in the 1990s, particularly in New York City; crime rates also dropped, particularly in New York City. I don't think that is the correlation you want... psharjinian: That’s the kind of penny-pinching that’s given the US it’s current health and education system. Our system of higher education (colleges and universities) is the best in the world, and the U.S. has one of the highest per-pupil rates of spending at the grade-school and high-school level. The idea that the American education system is the victim of conservative penny-pinching is incorrect. As for our health care system, here are a few reasons why our health care system is so expensive: 1. People from Mexico can use the U.S. health care system and avoid payment. Someone has to eventually pay for this. 2. People who pay a lot for health care get a lot of health care in return. The U.S. health care system caters to wealthy foreign nationals who can pay for top-notch service. 3. American enforces drug patents, which allows drug companies to make enough money to fund research. Other countries - including Canada - use "collective bargaining" and subtle threats to infringe patents that reduce drug costs. They attribute the benefits to "socialism" but they wouldn't have the drugs in the first place without the U.S. market to help cover the cost of developing them. 4. Some countries are less honest with statistics. A baby delivered live in the U.S. who dies an hour after birth has a one-hour lifespan, and is counted as a live birth. In some European countries, a baby that dies six hours after birth is considered a stillbirth. The U.S. also makes more efforts to save premature babies. This skews the infant-mortality statistics. 5. The rationining of health care by a private insurer opens the company to lawsuits. It's much, much harder to sue a government plan - if possible at all - that rations health care. And, please note that ALL of the nationalized plans ration health care. The idea that people in, say, Europe, receive all of the care that they want under nationalized plans is false. That is why every European country allows its citizens to purchase health care through private insurers to supplement the nationalized care. That is also why several Canadians successfully sued for the right to purchase private health insurance. psharjinian: Crime tracks poverty directly, no matter how much people want to make it an issue of morality (and not an economic one) by demonizing the poor.** It doesn't track spending to fight poverty, as I've shown above. Many poor people commit crimes, but that is because the same attitudes and behaviors that keep them poor also make them more predisposed to commit crimes in the first place. psharjinian: *** What people forget is that poor and desperate people have guns, too, and are more willing and able to use them than you might. Oh, and that pulling a gun significantly increases the risk you’ll be seriously hurt. Wrong. The simple fact is that armed citizens thwart many crimes annually...google Clayton Cramer's Civilian Self-Defense Blog or the research of Professor Gary Kleck to become better informed.
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