A Crime Issue So Uniquely Nob Hill

View Nob Hill Crime Map in a larger map

The above crime map illustrates the recent crimes of note in the Central Police District of San Francisco that includes (but is not limited to) Nob Hill in the last two weeks.

As the graphic clearly illustrates, Nob Hill itself is clearly lacking in the crime department. This is not to say that there is no crime whatsoever in the area: SFPD CrimeMaps showed lots of little crime dots coloring the region. However, most of these are parking citations and misdemeanor offenses. The crimes noted are those that Central District Captain Anna Brown felt the fine citizens of the district needed to know about for one reason or another. The issue, again, is a lack of crime within the neighborhood boundaries and the apparent prevalence of general safety along Nob Hill's posh avenues.

I was able to find one recent story: Officers responded to a tip that the University Club, a members-only establishment across from the Fairmont Hotel that holds various events and functions, was serving alcohol to non-members. This prompted a sting, wherein plainclothes officers infiltrated a Harvard graduates mixer - fake name tags and all. One officer was served a glass of wine, which was all it took for the club to get its liquor license suspended temporarily.

The San Francisco Chronicle called this story "unusual." I find it even more unusual that, while Russian Hill and Polk Street grapple with rising street prostitution and associated complications spurned by crime migration north from the Tenderloin, Nob Hill still remains fairly insulated for one reason or another. The biggest crime story marring the neighborhood's sterling reputation comes down to a glass of wine at an ivy league mixer. That, plus dogs off leash pooping in Huntington Park... choices, choices...

Through all of my time in the area, I have noticed that Nob Hill residents, businesses, representatives, fanatics, and so on are so vehement in defending the aforementioned reputation of their neighborhood that they are effective in preserving it. Neighborhood standards are very high. At the meeting I covered, one could feel the sharpness in various residents' words as they declared live music would bring porn and fast food to San Francisco's affluent crest. One real estate agent I spoke with went as far to assert that Nob Hill benefits from better security and police responsiveness because residents contribute more to government coffers (which is a theory I don't really buy, but felt was worth mentioning). For whatever reason, I have to give credit to the neighborhood for committing to a design, an ideal, and a certain snobbery that so uniquely defines Nob Hill. They have attained as close to neighborhood nirvana as one will ever see in a city such as this. Hats off.