“If we did that, everything would be stolen.”

A chance encounter with a California resident.

My wife was out walking our dog through our Northern Virginia neighborhood and came upon a man out taking a stroll.  They made eye contact, exchanged some pleasantries, and then the man asked, gesturing to the surroundings and with an obvious sense of wonder,

“Is it always like this?”

My wife asked him what he meant.

“People just leaving stuff out all the time?  Patio furniture, strollers, toys?”

My wife said yes, pretty much.

“I’m from California. If we did that, it would all be gone overnight. People would just take it.”

He did not say what part of California, but based on his appearance my wife said he was probably someone staying at one of the nearby hotels on business and almost certainly middle class or higher.

That is to say, chances are he did not live in some run-down area, he lived in a place not unlike our neighborhood, single-family homes of a similar socio-economic mix, which I suppose is why he was making the comparison, and why he was so surprised.

My wife assured him we were not exactly crime free. My wife’s car was vandalized about six months ago, and you’ll have burglaries and auto theft from time to time, and even the occasional robbery.  We are surrounded by commercial areas, have two Metro stops (the DC Metro subway) within a mile, and a slew of apartment buildings and hotels. It is, for this area, a typical close-in neighborhood, just across the river from DC.

Based on what he was saying, the difference between my Virginia neighborhood and his in California is that he can’t leave anything outside that isn’t bolted down. Theft is routine, it is expected. Leave something out, and you’re asking for it to be stolen.

I’m familiar with this culture of resignation.

I lived in New York in the ‘80s, a time period appropriately lumped in with the ‘70s. It was a pre-Giuliani era of rampant crime, filth, and danger.  The things you’ve probably heard about those times are pretty much all true. It really was like that, and people had the same attitude as that man from California.  This was the era of the “No Radio” notes people would tape to their car windows. In fact, no one left anything of value in their cars, and yet, as happened to a friend of mine, people would still break into them, stealing the dumbest, most useless things, a broken umbrella or a sweaty gym shirt.

Over time, people had had enough, Giuliani came in, beefing up policing, and over time, crime receded and a new normal set in.

Other cities followed suit, and the entire country witnessed a dramatic and prolonged decrease in crime.

Was there over-policing and abuses? Sure, when the pendulum swings, it swings hard and usually overshoots. Ideally, you’d like to think incremental improvements can be made, limiting abuses while maintaining civic order. In fact for some people, those who sincerely supported these Soros-backed DAs, I assume that was the thought. Pull back on some of the abuses, look into reforms, maybe pull that pendulum back a bit.

But the pendulum is relentless, and on it swings.

I just hope it starts swinging the other way before California comes to my neighborhood.