IS “PETTY CRIME” GETTING WORSE IN CALIFORNIA?: It seems that way to me. And it’s not just San Franciscans pooping on sidewalks. The guys helping me fix up my bathroom had the tools stolen from out of their truck recently. And the internet bulletin board for my neighborhood is full of posts about smash-and-grab crimes and the like. Many of them say, “I didn’t tell the police. These days they don’t do anything.” It makes me wonder how much FBI crime statistics on this sort of thing are worth.

The Commission on Civil Rights did a report a little while ago that was critical of an array of “police practices.” My colleagues viewed police efforts to prevent crime as anti-black.  This was my response.