San Francisco Mayor London Breed Makes ‘Remarkable Concession’ at City Hall on Smash and Grabs

We reported earlier this month on how San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, had initally announced a wholly inadequate response to the smash and grab crime wave that has hit the state of California – her city and other major ones in the state, in particular – quite hard this year, especially as of late with assaults and murders of security guards now taking place.

In a nutshell, the “solutions” involved restricting parking and access to retail areas as well as canceling planned vacations for police officers on an already-demoralized force that like many other police departments in Democrat-run cities across America has been plagued with retirement and recruiting issues galore thanks in large part to city leaders like Breed eagerly advocating for partial or complete defunding at a time when violent crime is on the rise.

But in an abrupt reversal, Breed announced yesterday in a fiery press conference at City Hall that she was ready for a more aggressive approach to combatting the smash and grab crime that is plaguing San Francisco, a major issue which is partially responsible for causing people to move away from the iconic American city in droves. And guess what? Breed’s plans involve relying more heavily on the police:

Mayor London Breed launched an emergency police intervention in San Francisco’s crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood Tuesday, targeting a pipeline of illegal drugs that has been fueling a surge in gun violence and deadly fentanyl overdoses.

[…]

“It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” she said. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerate of all the bullsh*t that has destroyed our city.”

Watch:

San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it's time for the "reign of criminals" to come to an end, and decries "all the bullsh*t" that has destroyed the city.

Read more: https://t.co/ySXjPLlLJD pic.twitter.com/xnTCV71WLR

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 16, 2021

New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin appropriately called it an “extraordinary moment” and a “remarkable concession” considering Breed’s prior rhetoric and actions on defunding the police:

An extraordinary moment in a major American city and remarkable concession from a leader.

The sitting mayor of San Francisco – at a formal news conference – decries "the bullshit that has destroyed our city.”https://t.co/7ai9Y4rcfr

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 15, 2021

In a Twitter thread posted Tuesday, Breed highlighted her “new steps to address public safety in our city”:

This includes:
➡️Executing an Emergency Intervention Plan in the TL,
➡️Securing emergency police funding for needed resources,
➡️Amending our surveillance ordinance so law enforcement can interrupt crime in real time ,
➡️Disrupting the illegal street sales of stolen goods.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) December 14, 2021

She made sure to pass along reassurances to her diehard liberal followers that she hadn’t totally abandoned her “woke” philosophy when it comes to reimagining city policing.

“We will do this while continuing long-term reforms like our Street Crisis Response Teams and the expansion of mental health beds,” she wrote, while also acknowledging that “we also need there to be accountability when someone does break the law. San Francisco is a compassionate city, but our compassion cannot be mistaken for weakness or indifference.”

In the famous words of Bruce Willis’ “John McClane” character in the Christmas (?) movie “Die Hard,” I’d like to give a big “welcome to the party, pal” greeting to Breed.

I should note that Breed is not the only Democrat Mayor in California in recent weeks to go on record publicly to point out how desperate she was to get police more involved in the game on the issues plaguing her city.

In late October, Oakland’s Democrat Mayor Libby Schaff made her most aggressive push to date in demanding the city council reverse course on their June vote to partially defund the police. But unlike Breed, Schaff made it clear well before November that she was not on board with the Democrat-run city council’s desire to take money away from police departments.

And Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, too, has spoken out often against the so-called “progressives” in his party targeting law enforcement for defunding, but he’s long been a rare sane voice of reason in the deep blue county.

Back to Breed, while it’s good news that it appears she’s been mugged by reality, at least for the time being, let’s not jump the shark here and shower her with praise. Defunding the police has always been a DUMB idea, especially considering it most negatively impacts the very communities wokesters say they want to protect, as well as the fact that the “leaders” who are on board with it don’t have to worry about security themselves since they get taxpayer-funded protection or get paid enough (Breed’s salary is around $340,000 year) that they can write a check for private security whenever they feel it’s necessary.

When idiotic ideas get introduced into the public debate, that’s the exact moment when leaders need to step up and lead rather than join the braying mobs. It’s not bold nor courageous for anti-police types like Breed to conveniently flip a switch only when they are left with nowhere else to turn.

That said, one thing we can thank Breed for is not taking a “blame the victim” approach when talking to the press about fighting back against organized crime efforts, which is exactly what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did last week when pointing fingers at everyone but herself for the inadequate city response so far to the smash and grab sprees and violent crime wave taking place in Chi-Town.

Silver linings and all that.