Steve Smith
Blog
The Prop 47 Budgetary Shell Game – Who you Gonna Believe? Them, or your Lying Eyes?
In 2014, Californians voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposition 47, known by its supporters title the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Prop 47’s advocates made a strong case, promising that both crime and incarceration rates would decline. At the same time, supporters argued that “massive” savings from ending the practice of ...
Blog
Read about rising juvenile crime rates
California’s Lost Boys – On California’s Juvenile Crime Problem
On May 18, Monterey couple Curt and Shelley Chaffee were visiting San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Shelley is an artist and was taking photographs of the park’s bison when they were robbed at gunpoint of their Nikon camera and cell phones by two male suspects. They were able to locate ...
Blog
Get the scoop on the latest CA crime data
What the New California Crime Stats Show
Among the key findings: Violent Crime: Violent crime increased by 3.3% compared to 2022 levels. Property Crime: Property crime decreased by 1.3%, but thefts and property crimes have actually increased according to victimization surveys and industry reports. Underreported Crime: 28 law enforcement agencies did not report their statistics, potentially leading ...
Blog
Will lawmakers hinder Prop. 47 reform?
Prop 47 – A Lethal Public Policy Cocktail
Not one of the ten bills pending in the state legislature even mentions dangerous drugs. The CDAA ballot initiative addresses the complexities of prosecuting serial and repeat thieves and refocuses on the root cause – increasing dangerous drug addiction and the systemic, pharmacological, and economically compulsive violence that contribute to ...
Blog
Will lawmakers take action to stop human trafficking in California?
The “Safer Streets for All Act” That Isn’t.
In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sex worker groups, and Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) joined forces to pass Senate Bill 357, which effectively decriminalized loitering for the purposes of prostitution. Citing statistics from Los Angeles that showed over 50 percent of suspected prostitutes are black, the ACLU ...
Blog
Read the latest on the effects of Prop 47
Letter Carriers and Your Mail Became Theft Targets After Prop 47
There may be no more venerable American institution than the U.S. Postal Service. Founded by the Continental Congress in 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General before there was even a United States. While e-mail and commercial package delivery has cut deeply into the Postal Services market share, ...
Blog
A Foster Care Racket
“You will be glad my lord, that I possess such an unsentimental view when I am managing your investments” – Ralph Nickelby in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens According to the California Children’s Law Center, in 2023 California housed and cared for as many as 60,000 children who, for a ...
Blog
Read latest on out of control crime in Oakland
Fear and Loathing in Oakland – the Savage Journey of Pamela Price
Upon assuming office in January 2023, Price established the Public Accountability Unit and reopened cases involving police officers that her predecessor had investigated and declined prosecute – including the Mario Gonzalez case. The three Alameda PD officers (one now works for another agency) attempted to arrest Gonzalez, who had been ...
Blog
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
Blog
Read latest on corruption in local government
Corruption, crime, and cover-ups
The March 27 sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for his role in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme brings closure to years of high living off the backs of his investors in his online crypto trading platform FTX. Fraudsters like Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Bernie Madoff, Jeff ...
The Prop 47 Budgetary Shell Game – Who you Gonna Believe? Them, or your Lying Eyes?
In 2014, Californians voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposition 47, known by its supporters title the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Prop 47’s advocates made a strong case, promising that both crime and incarceration rates would decline. At the same time, supporters argued that “massive” savings from ending the practice of ...
Read about rising juvenile crime rates
California’s Lost Boys – On California’s Juvenile Crime Problem
On May 18, Monterey couple Curt and Shelley Chaffee were visiting San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Shelley is an artist and was taking photographs of the park’s bison when they were robbed at gunpoint of their Nikon camera and cell phones by two male suspects. They were able to locate ...
Get the scoop on the latest CA crime data
What the New California Crime Stats Show
Among the key findings: Violent Crime: Violent crime increased by 3.3% compared to 2022 levels. Property Crime: Property crime decreased by 1.3%, but thefts and property crimes have actually increased according to victimization surveys and industry reports. Underreported Crime: 28 law enforcement agencies did not report their statistics, potentially leading ...
Will lawmakers hinder Prop. 47 reform?
Prop 47 – A Lethal Public Policy Cocktail
Not one of the ten bills pending in the state legislature even mentions dangerous drugs. The CDAA ballot initiative addresses the complexities of prosecuting serial and repeat thieves and refocuses on the root cause – increasing dangerous drug addiction and the systemic, pharmacological, and economically compulsive violence that contribute to ...
Will lawmakers take action to stop human trafficking in California?
The “Safer Streets for All Act” That Isn’t.
In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sex worker groups, and Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) joined forces to pass Senate Bill 357, which effectively decriminalized loitering for the purposes of prostitution. Citing statistics from Los Angeles that showed over 50 percent of suspected prostitutes are black, the ACLU ...
Read the latest on the effects of Prop 47
Letter Carriers and Your Mail Became Theft Targets After Prop 47
There may be no more venerable American institution than the U.S. Postal Service. Founded by the Continental Congress in 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General before there was even a United States. While e-mail and commercial package delivery has cut deeply into the Postal Services market share, ...
A Foster Care Racket
“You will be glad my lord, that I possess such an unsentimental view when I am managing your investments” – Ralph Nickelby in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens According to the California Children’s Law Center, in 2023 California housed and cared for as many as 60,000 children who, for a ...
Read latest on out of control crime in Oakland
Fear and Loathing in Oakland – the Savage Journey of Pamela Price
Upon assuming office in January 2023, Price established the Public Accountability Unit and reopened cases involving police officers that her predecessor had investigated and declined prosecute – including the Mario Gonzalez case. The three Alameda PD officers (one now works for another agency) attempted to arrest Gonzalez, who had been ...
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
Read latest on corruption in local government
Corruption, crime, and cover-ups
The March 27 sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for his role in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme brings closure to years of high living off the backs of his investors in his online crypto trading platform FTX. Fraudsters like Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Bernie Madoff, Jeff ...
