San Francisco DA official says crime surge fears linked to racism

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San Francisco businesses face shoplifting epidemic

Fox News' Claudia Cowan reports from San Francisco, where business owners are frustrated by brazen instances of shoplifting.

A senior official in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office linked fears of a crime surge to racism in a tweet that raised eyebrows Sunday evening. 

Kate Chatfield, a senior director in far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin's office, downplayed safety concerns amid a nationwide crime spike. 

Chatfield was reacting to a Twitter user who said that "every single one of my friends right now is considering leaving" San Francisco due to crime fears. "My friends are scared for their children, and their husbands are scared for their wives," the user wrote. 

SAN FRANCISCO CAR BREAK-INS UP OVER 750% IN SOME AREAS, POLICE SAY 

"'Husbands are scared for their wives' —-your reminder that the ‘crime surge’ crowd shares the same ideology as The Birth of a Nation," Chatfield fired back, referring to an early 20th-century White supremacist film. 

Chatfield locked her Twitter account – making it so only her followers can see her tweets – after her comment about crime fears drew sharp criticism online. Boudin's office didn't immediately return Fox News' request for comment. 

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Reports of vehicle break-ins in San Francisco were up by between 100% and over 750% in parts of the Golden City, according to the police department's most recent monthly statistics. 

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The number of thefts from vehicles reported citywide in the month of May was more than double, from 923 in 2020 to 1,891 the same month in 2021, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) data shows. 

The department has not yet released statistics for the month of June.

Stephanie Pagones contributed reporting