A CNN reporter becomes a victim herself while covering crime on the streets of San Francisco. A security guard was even watching.

A reporter for the CNN broadcaster can now report from her own experience how bad the crime on San Francisco’s streets is: Correspondent Kyung Lah’s rental car was broken into in broad daylight. And of all things while she was researching the rampant street crime in the city. Some users reacted sympathetically online, many fatalistically, some angrily – and some with malice.

The journalist reported on Twitter: “I was robbed!” She shared a photo of the car after the perpetrators struck in a flash: It may have taken four seconds to steal the bags from it while she and a colleague were conducting an interview.

San Francisco is a beautiful city and she loves being there, she wrote. “But if you visit this city, you should know that even hiring security to monitor your car is not enough there.” The security employee tried to grab the crooks, but in the end he was only able to take a photo of the perpetrators’ vehicle driving away, including the number plate.

Airport staff knew the problem well

Her bag with identification and passport had been in the car. Therefore, at first she worried about her return journey. But at the airport she experienced a surprise: “Because so many people’s cars are broken into and documents are stolen, SouthwestAir is used to the problem of missing ID cards and gave me my ticket without hesitation after a short security check,” the reporter described her experience in a meanwhile deleted tweet.

In the US media, San Francisco is often portrayed as a crime hotspot. The pharmacy and drugstore chain Walgreens caused a stir. The company closed several locations around the city because it couldn’t cope with shoplifting. Walgreens said the damage from theft in San Francisco was five times higher than average and security costs were 46 times higher. Local media, however, reported doubts about the numbers after researching the police.

The whole thing also has a political component: Last June, the Democratic District Attorney Chesa Boudin was voted out after two years in office. He was accused of not acting hard enough against crime, petty criminals had nothing to fear in the city. “Everyone who lives or visits here is a potential victim,” was the core statement of the vote-out campaign.

For reporter Kyung Lah, the strong polarization in the USA on this topic was also clear in the comments on her post. People there maliciously write that they only got what was chosen. After all, the state of California is also in democratic hands and is considered to be particularly liberal, a horror for very conservative Americans. At least the reporter has her identity papers back, they have been found.

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