San Francisco Has a Chance to Correct a Serious Mistake

In 2019 voters in San Francisco narrowly elected one Chesa Boudin as their new district attorney. Boudin was an anti-bonding company zealot who had been a public defender but had zero experience when it came to prosecuting criminals. Nonetheless, he was now the chief law enforcement official in the City by the Bay.

Boudin, however, was not totally unfamiliar with the workings of the judicial system. His parents had been members of the Weather Underground terrorist group and were convicted of participating in a 1981 armored car robbery that left 1 guard and 2 policemen dead. His mother served 22 years in prison for the crime and his father was sentenced to 75 years and remains in prison in upstate New York.

Boudin was elected as a "progressive" (someone who believes the rights of criminals outweigh the rights of victims) and stated that the first thing he would do upon taking office would be to issue an order forbidding prosecutors from seeking jail bond. A promise he unfortunately kept, much to the detriment of the entire Bay Area.

The War on the Bail Bond Agent is a Defeat for Us All

Fast forward 2 years. San Francisco is awash in serial offenders who keep getting arrested and released back onto the streets. The city, once one of the safest in the US, is now more dangerous than Compton, home to some of the most dangerous street gangs in the nation.

Huge organized gangs of perps roll up to large San Francisco department stores like Nordstrom in dozens of cars, fill those cars with stolen merchandise worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and ride off with no one raising a finger to stop them. Car theft has skyrocketed, assaults have reached record levels. In fact, if you live in San Francisco you stand a 1 in 16 chance of being a victim of crime on any given day.

"It’s outrageous", House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in the US House said recently. "It must be stopped." Leftist San Francisco mayor London Breed agreed and ordered an immediate crackdown on retail smash-and-grabs as well as more policing and other measures aimed at trying to stop the chaos unleashed by Boudin. Said Breed: "What I’m proposing… will make a lot of people uncomfortable and I don’t care. We are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable." What she couldn’t do is replace Boudin, not unless voters chose to recall him.

The Recall Effort

Faced with exponential growth in brazen criminal activity even the notoriously leftist voters of San Francisco said enough is enough. With just over 51,000 signatures needed to put a recall of Boudin on the ballot, recall organizers submitted over 83,000. As a result, a recall vote was scheduled for June 7, 2022. If he loses Mayor Breed will have the opportunity to appoint a replacement.

Recent polls show solid support for recalling Boudin and recall proponents have raised more than $7 million to finance the effort, twice as much as his supporters have raised. Boudin, for his part, demonstrated just how out of touch he is with reality when he claimed that voters feel "anger at the Trump administration" and are using the recall to take out that anger on him.

That delusional pronouncement not only calls into question his mental state, but completely ignores that under Boudin the city's Crime Index rating has plummeted to 3 on a scale of 1 - 100 (with 100 being the safest). By contrast, even the murder capital of the nation, Chicago, has a Crime Index rating of 10, and New York City's Crime Index rating is 19.

Boudin Is Not Keeping San Francisco Safe

The Notice of Intent accompanying the recall petition laid out the people’s case against Boudin using stark language.

"Since he took office, burglaries, car break-ins, homicides and overdose-related deaths are at a crisis level. Boudin is not keeping San Francisco safe. He refuses to adequately prosecute criminals… doesn't hold serial offenders accountable… and his response to victims is that "hopefully" home burglaries will go down."

The petitioners also called him out for his dismissive attitude toward victims of sexual assault who he thinks should make face-to-face amends with their assailants, rather than press charges. The Notice of Intent also noted that Boudin refuses to try any juveniles as adults, regardless of the crime they are accused of, and has stated he will not seek longer sentences for gang members accused of crimes.

The Turning of the Tide?

The effort to recall San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin is being closely watched by people on both sides of the bail bond agent debate, not only in California but also in Denver County, Arapahoe County, Jefferson County and elsewhere. Coming as it does on the heels of New York’s abrupt abandonment of most of its own catastrophic bail reform measures, and riding a growing tide of unrest created by catch-and-release programs nationwide, it is hoped the recall of Boudin, if successful, will represent the turning of the tide back in favor of common sense.

Call Our Cash Bail Agents 24/7

While bail reformists continue to try and chip away at the foundations of the justice system in Colorado, rest assured that RR Bail Bonds are still here providing the best bail bonds services you’ll find anywhere. In Colorado get in touch by searching for "bondsman near me" or simply call us at (303) 623-0399.

For updated information on bail bonding reform in California, see our additional content.

• California’s No-Bail Nightmare: The Shape of Things to Come - October 2020
• Gascon’s Contempt for California Voters on Full Display as He Take Office - January 2021
• New L.A. D.A. George Gascon Says Voters Are Wrong - January 2021
• Recall Efforts Seek to Correct Cash Bail Reform's Consequences - July 2022
• California Bail Reform Efforts Put on Hold - October 2022