Fear among American government employees regarding office attendance has surged due to safety concerns in the wake of rising crime rates in certain areas. The Department of Health and Human Services in San Francisco has instructed hundreds of employees to work remotely due to the alarming level of crime in the vicinity of its office, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
An internal memo dated August 4 advised employees to continue remote work for an indefinite period, referencing the conditions around the Federal Building, the department’s location. Cheryl R. Campbell, the assistant secretary for administration, emphasized the advice was offered in response to the conditions near the Federal Building.
The Federal Building, situated at 90 7th Street in San Francisco, has become notorious for drug-related activities. Drug dealers frequently operate near or across the street from the building, and two individuals were even charged with drug deals recorded by surveillance cameras near the building. San Francisco has grappled with a drug crisis and homelessness epidemic over recent years.
The issue of crime in San Francisco has become a focal point of broader national discussions on crime and public perceptions of it. Elon Musk, CEO of X (formerly known as Twitter), which is headquartered in the city, has highlighted the city’s high violent crime rates. CNN also reported on how San Francisco’s crime problems have impacted its politics, with concerns about safety leading to shifts in local leadership.
Fox News reported that while San Francisco’s crime statistics may appear relatively favorable compared to other major US cities, experts argue that underlying problems have been masked for years. Charles “Cully” Stimson, a Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow and former prosecutor, expressed concerns that crime is worse than reported due to underreporting caused by a lack of law enforcement and prosecutorial action.
The murder of tech executive Bob Lee highlighted the crime issue, prompting criticism from figures like Elon Musk. The data does show San Francisco with a lower homicide rate than some other major cities, but Stimson argues that longer-term trends reveal a pattern of rising crime,
attributing part of this issue to softer approaches towards crime prosecution introduced by figures like former District Attorney George Gascón.
Gascón’s policies, backed by organizations like those funded by George Soros, reportedly contributed to the increase in crime rates around 2015 and 2016. Stimson also mentioned former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who continued similar policies after Gascón, as another factor. The situation in San Francisco highlights the broader issue of balancing safety, law enforcement, and criminal justice reform in the context of rising crime rates in certain areas of the United States.
The high-profile crime and Musk’s comments sparked widespread discussion of San Francisco’s crime problem, with many pointing out that the Twitter CEO’s argument doesn’t align with statistics.
“San Francisco is close to the bottom of the list of major cities, with 6.9 homicides per 100,000 people”, one article from ABC 7 said, citing FBI and San Francisco police data.
The data, reviewed by Fox News Digital, does show San Francisco coming in at a lower homicide rate than other major cities, with its murder rate checking in below St. Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Chicago, Oakland, Minneapolis, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin and Washington, DC.
Other forms of violent crime such as rapes and assaults have also remained relatively stable in San Francisco over the last four years, the data shows, while murders have ticked up slightly. Property crimes, on the other hand, have risen sharply since 2019.
But, according to Stimson, going back further paints a clearer picture of the problem that has recently plagued San Francisco.
The first problem, according to Stimson, was the election of a Soros-backed District Attorney with a reputation as soft of crime.
Stimson was referring to former San Francisco District Atttorney George Gascón, who served in that role from January 2011 until October 2019.
Stimson argued that Gascón’s term ushered in a new era of rising crime in San Francisco, which had been experiencing nearly two decades of tumbling crime rates at the same time as many other major cities across the country.
Stimson argued that as Gascón’s policies started to take hold in the city, crime started to rise around 2015 and 2016. The city’s residents got no reprieve from the problem when Gascón left office, thanks to similar policies of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin from January 2020 until he was recalled in July 2022.
“Those policies include not prosecuting any misdemeanors, watering down most felonies to misdemeanors, not asking for long prison sentences even for people who are convicted of the worst crimes, never asking for bail”, Stimson said.
Citing FBI and Justice Department data, Stimson pointed out that in the five years before Gascón took office in 2011, there were 757 reported rapes, an average of 151 per year, in San Francisco. But in Gascón’s last five years in office, the city had a total of 1,731 reported rapes, or 346 per year.
