House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced San Francisco’s smash-and-grab crime spree and its growing reputation for lawlessness as “absolutely outrageous,” but she stopped short of endorsing San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s plan to increase policing.
The California Democrat, whose district includes San Francisco, had no specific response to Breed’s Tuesday announcement that she plans to increase policing and make other policy changes to combat the rise in crime, but she said, “I agree with the mayor — it must be stopped.”
Pelosi promoted House legislation that would make it harder for thieves to sell stolen merchandise online while condemning the crime wave.
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San Francisco shops have been targeted by mass smash-and-grab thefts in which looters sell the stolen merchandise online.
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“Obviously, it cannot continue,” Pelosi said. “But the fact is that there is an attitude of lawlessness in our country that springs from I don’t know where, maybe you do, and we cannot have that lawlessness become the norm.”
Pelosi said the crime wave is happening “across the country” and that the House legislation would disincentive theft by making the online platform “accountable for the provenance of those goods.”
“It’s out of the question people should be able to think that they can just steal things, profit from them, and not have any accountability,” she said.
A second House bill, Pelosi said, would require those selling products online to prove where the products came from. The legislation would discourage theft “by showing people they are not able to profit from that.”
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Breed held a press conference on Tuesday with Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott to pitch initiatives to combat crime, including crackdowns on drug crimes and illegal street vendors. Breed is also seeking to boost police patrols on the most crime-ridden streets and to permit more police surveillance.
“We need to change course on how we handle public safety in San Francisco,” Breed said. “We can’t be a place where anything goes on the street.”
