Early Days

Quiet times at 4th & Mission, SF (Chron photo)

Did You Enjoy the Play, Mrs. Lincoln, Dept:
If one is able to overlook the death, disease, and financial destruction that COVID-19 has wrought, one can appreciate its silver linings, like a reduction in crime.

San Mateo County: [bold added]

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said he’s seeing a 50% decline in cases in all branches of his office. Violent crime, residential and auto burglaries are all down and his office hasn’t received a single hate crime case this year as reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans elsewhere are increasing since the outbreak of the virus.

According to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, there were 179 total crimes last week compared to 233 crimes during the same week in 2019, a 23% drop.

In San Bruno, there were 187 crimes last week and as many as 361 that week the year prior, a 48% decrease, according to the department.

San Francisco:

Violent crime was down 31% during the first week of the shelter-in-place order, compared with the same period in 2019. Property crime rates were nearly 50% lower during the same time frame.

Police departments are seeing an uptick in domestic violence and noise complaints, but these are still early days.