San Francisco prosecutor ousted for being soft on crime

THE famously liberal residents of San Francisco have voted to remove their chief prosecutor from office over concerns about rising crime rates and fears that he is too Left-wing.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin lost a recall vote sparked by anger over rising crime and homelessness that blight what was once one of the most livable cities in the United States.

Overall, San Francisco Police Department data show that there was an increase in reported crimes of about 12 per cent last year compared with 2020, with 56 murders, up from 48 in 2020.

Mr Boudin, 41, was criticised for his policy of treatment rather than punishment for criminals with drug habits.

His defeat was cheered by leaders of the hotel and retailers associations, who said it was a sign that visitors, shoppers and workers will be prioritised again in a city that relies heavily on tourism.

Joe Biden said: “I think the voters sent a clear message last night. Both parties have to step up and do something about crime, as well as gun violence.”

Mr Boudin narrowly won office in November 2019 as one of a national wave of progressive prosecutors who pledged to seek alternatives to incarceration, end the war on drugs and hold police officers to account.

But his time in office coincided with a shoplifting crime wave and attacks against Asian-americans.

The recall mirrors a larger discontent in American cities where liberal voters – who have traditionally shunned the tough-on-crime rhetoric of the political Right – are calling for a crackdown.

In Los Angeles, a similarly-minded district attorney, is fending off an attempt to oust him, while in Seattle, taxpayers are angry over robberies and violent crime at a time when the number of police officers has shrunk in the wake of campaigns to “Defund the Police”.

Mr Boudin’s parents were radicals in the revolutionary communist Weather Underground group, and were jailed for their part in an armed robbery that left two police officers dead.