Crime and Drones

Recalibrating crime coverage.

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The inevitable David French joins Sarah, Steve, and Jonah to discuss the new Dune trailer… uh, I mean, this week’s news, including:
-Drones over Moscow
-Is Kevin McCarthy “free at last”?
-Will we ever be able to discuss violent crime like adults? (Read Jonah’s Wednesday G-File and despair)
-Is there hope for sane, centrist Senate candidates in ’24? (Read Sarah’s Tuesday’s The Permanent Campaign and despair)

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Comments (52)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Sarah DeSalvo

    I just have to say I'm quite disappointed by Jonah's dismissive comment about mentally ill people, saying "people who are on the bubble of craziness to begin with, I'm sorry, 'people who are neurodivergent' I think is what I'm supposed to say " and then David laughed. (I actually re-listened to make sure I hadn't misheard the statement.) I am disappointed both in Jonah's ignorant comment and in the fact that David laughed at it. I am not bringing this to your attention just to make sure you will be "politically correct" in the future. This is not a matter of "political correctness." Neurodivergence is absolutely NOT the same as mental illness. There are several members of my family who are neurodivergent - they have autism. They are not mentally ill because of their autism. Neurodivergence/neurodiversity includes neurolological conditions such as dyslexia, autism, ADHD, etc. Mental illness is something different entirely. I hope you know better now, Jonah, and won't mix these things up again.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Chris

    Another great episode, lots of information to digest. The nostalgia discussion especially hit me. I just got back from a family event in Michigan and I spent some time in the suburban Detroit suburb that I grew up in but haven't back to in a long time. I was struck by the fact that most of the small and regional businesses that had been a part of the fabric of the city are now gone, there seems to be nothing left. Instead, it's been replaced with national chain stores all over the place. So while the city has grown and is much bigger (and more crowded) from when I lived there, all the strip malls that used to have local businesses...hardware stores, pet stores, wine and cheese markets, local restaurants are complete gone. It was amazing...and kind of sad...to see.

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  3. Jimlafferty1993

    This may have been covered by another commenter. An increase of 20% in shoplifting doesn’t necessarily tell the full story. I would be interested in the amount stolen per incident. Shoplifters appear to be more brazen in their efforts. From the videos I’ve seen (admittedly, not the best evidence) these shoplifting thefts appear to be closer to grand theft than stealing a pack of gum.

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  4. Mrjsfisher

    MAN y’all are concerned about the apparent “lawlessness” of a mentally Ill person having a melt down on a NEW YORK city subway and how It makes people feel, and REALLY unconcerned about the literal lawlessness of vigilante justice leading to what the facts minimally support as s manslaughter charge. Meanwhile nary a word about the literal lawlessness of mass shooting events that happen on a daily basis it seems.

    I’m with you on the discussion, but MAN this was a terrible vehicle for it. All of you sounded like you were apologizing for what looks increasingly like Batman killing a skinny crazy kid for making people uncomfortable.

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  5. Brandon Hartley

    Great podcast! Btw ad issue: I ordered two Aura carver matte frames but the "dispatch" code didn't work on their site. Thanks!

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  6. Brandon Hartley

    Great pod! Btw ad issue: I just ordered two Aura carver matte frames and the "dispatch" code word didn't work. Thanks!

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  7. Avatar photo
    Michael Berkowitz

    I listened to the polls of Republican opinion on Ukraine and wondered "When does Ms. Isgur decide to remind us how meaningless opinion polls are?"

    Also on matters of statistics: Ms. Isgur mentioned that property crime in SF was up by only 23% (or thereabouts) and violent crime was not particularly up. First, I think that in-your-face property crime, like brazen shoplifting, may 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 like violent crime because of the potential for violent confrontation. Sure, if you just sit back and watch the tide of shoplifters erode the cliffs of your stock shelves, you may feel perfectly safe (put on some seaside white noise, it may even be relaxing), but how many of us can look on that with equanimity?

    Second, I doubt that emotional effect is directly proportional to stimulus, such that people feel 5% less safe when violent crime goes up by 5%. I imagine that has been studied. If not, it should be.

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  8. Rodrubert

    I am sorry if I missed it but I did not hear a source for the "only" 23% increase in theft in San Francisco. I am going to guess that the source is from the city and tracks either reports of theft to police or arrests for theft by police. This does not take into account what retailers will do when the police will not respond to reports of theft. Retailers quit reporting theft and move on to other options. These options include locking up products, using private security and dealing directly with the thieves. When the retailers see no advantage to reporting crimes, reports of crime are not really a good measurement of the issue. A much better metric would be product losses by retailers year over year.

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    1. Duffterrall

      I'm also curious about *where* the report covers. I looked at a quick map of the closures and these stores are all collected in the same area, mostly on the same street. (Market St.)
      If crime is up 23% citywide, but is up dramatically in a certain area, that is going to impact these stores much more than that number indicates. It could also reflect movement of crime. Perhaps as petty theft becomes more tolerated the thieves stop robbing individuals or houses but instead begin robbing stores to get a bigger, safer payoff?

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  9. Acre00

    What I find kinda interesting about the crime debate writ large is how it roughly reverses the racism debate. When talking about racism, the right will point to various statistics showing improvement and that racism isn't nearly as bad as it is made out to be, and that their personal anecdotes aren't data. Meanwhile, the left will point out very real problem areas and claim that the right is ignoring the "lived experiences" of minorities. In the crime debate, the left is now pointing to various statistics and telling people that it's not as as it is made out to be, and that their personal anecdotes aren't data.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Alicia

    i love it when david and the gang are all back together.

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