Eric
Mama's lil stinker
This is really a shame and as someone who always shoots photos in the city it's always freaked me out, to the point I don't even want to go to any of the tourist destinations with my gear.
From Reddit - First time visiting SF and was robbed at gunpoint
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How did this guy know specifically that the gun was a Glock if he is supposedly from a "country that does not experience violent crimes"?
Aside from that, yes, this is a scary story and one to give any photographer pause.... I know that it has been years since I've been downtown on the streets of DC with a camera, and things have gotten much worse here over time so that there is no way I'd do the "tourist thing" and look like a tourist while wandering around DC at all the usual spots with expensive camera gear.
Aside from that, yes, this is a scary story and one to give any photographer pause.... I know that it has been years since I've been downtown on the streets of DC with a camera, and things have gotten much worse here over time so that there is no way I'd do the "tourist thing" and look like a tourist while wandering around DC at all the usual spots with expensive camera gear.
Pumbaa
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Ah, thanks, Pumbaa! I didn't read through the entire Reddit thread, just what Eric had posted.
Pumbaa
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I had to check. But my first guess would have been a gamer and plenty of hours with Counter-Strike or something
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Yeah...while I don't live in SF, I'm close enough where a lot of the local news coverage deals with people getting their cameras or jewelry jacked. Or cars broken into looking for valuables.
Can't see myself walking with a camera (or phone) in hand while making photos of this and that in SF like I frequently did pre-pandemic. That was a huge part of my livelyhood.
Maybe it's time to spend a week or two in LA or NYC. Or do another photo roadtrip in Nevada.
Can't see myself walking with a camera (or phone) in hand while making photos of this and that in SF like I frequently did pre-pandemic. That was a huge part of my livelyhood.
Maybe it's time to spend a week or two in LA or NYC. Or do another photo roadtrip in Nevada.
Eric
Mama's lil stinker
You hear stories like this all the time in SF, you just can't be too careful. This is the main reason I seek unique locations for all my city shot, those with their expensive gear out in tourist spots are sitting ducks, the robbers park where they can spot them and just wait and will either attack them on the spot (like this situation) or follow them back to their house or hotel and do it there. Scary stuff. I have all my gear insured just to be on the safe side, it's a huge investment to lose like that.
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Absolutely insurance on one's gear is a must! I've had it for years and will continue to do so as long as I am using cameras that are other than iPhones or P&S.
ronntaylor
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I'm surprised something like doesn't happen more often here in NYC. Tourists are so excited to be in New York and forget common sense. Luckily there are usually plenty of officers in the heavy tourist areas. Still: stay alert, vigilant and like Eric said, insure everything.
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having lived half my life in and around NYC and half my life in the Bay Area, I’d say SF is more filthy and crime-ridden than NY. I also think the average New Yorker is more authentically nice than the average San Franciscan, but what do I know.
Eric
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The police in San Francisco just don't care because the laws are so relaxed they refuse to even address it. Thieves regularly hit malls and stores because nobody will even attempt to stop them anymore, it's lawlessness on a comic book "the city is full of crime" level. They're literally walking into stores, filling up carts and walking out past everyone while giving them the finger.
The other side of that is a city full of cops who just sit and do nothing but collect their checks at the taxpayers expense and bitch about Liberal policies while refusing to even perform the basic duties of their jobs.
All I can say is even the most hardcore lefties are fed up and are getting ready to vote out anyone to change it, I'm a fan of Newsom but even he's tone deaf when it comes to crime.
The other side of that is a city full of cops who just sit and do nothing but collect their checks at the taxpayers expense and bitch about Liberal policies while refusing to even perform the basic duties of their jobs.
All I can say is even the most hardcore lefties are fed up and are getting ready to vote out anyone to change it, I'm a fan of Newsom but even he's tone deaf when it comes to crime.
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San Francisco's Police Department is down roughly 600 sworn officers (leaving for other PDs or retiring at a rate of 100/year), around a third of ideal staffing. That's on City Hall and the Board of Supervisors not stepping up with funding to deal with the situation; especially considering the huge upward swing in cost of living in the area.
I've been making photographs in San Francisco for 15-20 years, making photos mostly of people, in different neighborhoods, and have never felt unsafe in the past. It's a different situation now. One of my cop friends attributes the rise in violence in general (not just tourist areas) to cheap and plentiful Fentanyl.
I've been making photographs in San Francisco for 15-20 years, making photos mostly of people, in different neighborhoods, and have never felt unsafe in the past. It's a different situation now. One of my cop friends attributes the rise in violence in general (not just tourist areas) to cheap and plentiful Fentanyl.
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