What’s a Nightcrawler scribe gonna do? She needs a new target.

Lee Heidhues 2.1.2023

Times are tough for law & order crime fighter Heather Knight.

She NO longer has her favorite Scapegoat Chesa Boudin to kick around anymore. What’s a Nightcrawler scribe gonna do? She needs a new target. How about Mayor Breed and her handpicked Personal shopper DA Brooke Jenkins?

This should have been the Lede in the Story. Not buried near the end. “Mayor London Breed hasn’t agreed to an interview on the subject. I approached her at a public event last week to ask about the Black Magic burglary and if she’s satisfied with the level of service her police officers are providing the public. She said to direct questions to her spokesperson and walked off.”

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 2.1.2023

It sounds like the opening minutes of a noir-ish “Law and Order.” But the episode — let’s call it “Burglary at the Black Magic” — would have ended before the first commercial break. After the theft, pretty much nothing happened until I started asking questions. It’s just the latest instance of San Francisco police seeming to shrug off crime, contributing to a city short on law or order.

**Mayor Breed is all smiles as her police force looks on**

It was early in the morning on Friday the 13th, and Mick Martinez sensed trouble at the Black Magic Voodoo Lounge.

The Lombard Street bar was closed that January morning, but its front window was open — and its curtain blew in the breeze. Martinez, a neighbor out walking his dog, figured somebody broke in. He used the flashlight on his cell phone to peer inside and shouted, “OK, fellas! The game’s over!”

Remarkably, it took nearly 15 hours for police to respond after the bar’s owner, Joe Vernieri, called in the burglary. Even though other burglaries of small businesses in the area — including one two days before at Chico’s Pizza on the same block — had just taken place. And strangely, when cops finally did get to the Black Magic, it was at 3:44 a.m. the next morning even though California bars must close at 2 a.m. Obviously, nobody would be there to give them information and the visit was pointless.

**Mayor Breed said to direct questions to her spokesperson and walked off.**

Mayor London Breed hasn’t agreed to an interview on the subject. I approached her at a public event last week to ask about the Black Magic burglary and if she’s satisfied with the level of service her police officers are providing the public.

She said to direct questions to her spokesperson and walked off.

Her spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, later wrote in an email that understaffing “is a very real challenge” but the city is paying officers overtime, as well as adding street ambassadors and crisis response teams to supplement regular police work.