Some Good News For Once: Homicides Down Dramatically In S.F.

San Francisco has seen a dramatic drop in its homicide rate this year - with 17 homicides since the first of the year, compared to 45 last year!

According to the SFGate...

There have been nine black male murder victims this year, compared with 23 at this time in 2008 and 16 in 2007. And there have been no murders attributable to black-on-black gang violence this year, which was long pegged as a prime cause of the city's spiking murder rate. (Note: and which can now definitively be pegged as the cause)

Analysts say crime rates usually climb during economic recessions, making this year's homicide drop even more unlikely. Kevin Ryan, director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, credited the new "zone strategy," in which police officers flood the most crime-ridden neighborhoods.

(Note: This extraordinarily simple idea - putting cops where the crime is - is, for San Francisco, a radical concept. It forced the city to take off its politically correct blinders and realize that its "this is the whole city's problem" attitude was just plain wrong. Even a cursory glimpse at the SF Homicide Map will show that the city's homicides are concentrated in a few areas - areas everyone knows about and anyone who can avoids. I don't think I need to tell you what the characteristics of those neighborhoods are. Let's just say admitting as much would not be very PC - hence the foot-dragging.)

He said a renewed focus on high-risk people on probation and violent gangs is also working. He also praised District Attorney Kamala Harris' office for tougher charging of gang and gun crimes (Note: tougher by her lax standards anyway) and the Department of Justice for getting involved in certain gang cases (Note: although your average SF leftist would gladly tolerate a few more bodies on the streets, if it meant a) keeping the DEA out of pot clubs, and b) keeping ICE from going after criminals.)

"We have come up with a formula that has stemmed the tide for now, but we must watch the trends and be prepared for new strategies as the situation requires," he said.

....OR NOT! Look... my advice is if nothing you have done for years has worked, and all of a sudden you see a dramatic improvement with your new strategy... THEN STICK WITH THAT STRATEGY! In fact, do a lot more of it.