Dean Preston accused of victim blaming due to stance on San Francisco car theft
Self-described democratic socialist, Dean Preston got into hot water yesterday on Twitter. This was due to a statement he made regarding car crime in the city. Here, his controversial tweet read: “Just as government in the 1980’s launched a massive “buckle up” campaign to retrain drivers/passengers to use seatbelts, we need as a City to pound in every way possible the message to visitors: do not leave anything in your car. Do this & we’ll dramatically reduce car break-ins.” This was followed by over 1800 messages, and some of them were not very nice. The full Tweet can be seen below.
One of the top replies by Kent Black said: “As a resident, you answer does not meet my needs. I want to park my car free from fear. If you can’t help me do that, why exactly are you in office?” while another user named Sam Bingner wrote: “So I guess if something gets stolen from me, it’s my fault for not securing it better? Naturally. Couldn’t be that there may be another solution to social problems, and blaming the victims while ignoring the crimes is not ideal.”
In true Dean Preston style, he doubled down and refused to budge on his stance. Whether you agree with his position or not, it does seem as though the timing of this Tweet was less than ideal as tensions in the city are flying high after a spate of car crimes over the past year. Hopefully, San Francisco will solve this issue. However, it may be through different methods from simply leaving possessions out of sight.
