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San Francisco DA defends brazen Walgreens shoplifter

Attorney Harmeet Dhillon joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss shameless shoplifters in San Francisco getting away with crime.

A second recall effort launched against San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin demonstrates how residents are "fed up" with his progressive policies, as his push to reduce jail funding and refusal to prosecute repeat offenders ensures the streets remain marred with open-air drug dealing and violent crime now stretching into the suburbs, a leader of the prominent local police union tells Fox News.

Last week, the first Republican-backed recall effort fell just 1,714 signatures short of the 51,325 required to trigger a special election to bring the question of ousting Boudin before voters. Now a second recall effort is being organized, which Boudin brushed off Monday night as proof that his so-called successes in reducing incarceration has "angered the billionaire class."

But it’s his progressive approach that’s actually hurting average San Franciscans, San Francisco Police Officers Association President Tony Montoya tells Fox News, as Boudin’s "swiftest revolving door in criminal justice" sends the message to offenders that there are no consequences for their actions.

"Police are the bad guys, and the bad guys are the good guys in the mind of a progressive," Montoya said. "Chesa’s good at the blame game. We’re going to call him Mr. Deflector because he’s always pointing the finger left or right and never at the man in the mirror."

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"The perception out there is that are zero consequences for illegal or bad behavior. They know if they get caught, they’ll be out sooner than it takes the officer to write their police report," Montoya continued. "Rather than the politicians becoming numb to it, I think they’re in denial. They are flat out in denial that it’s occurring. It’s not secret we have an open air drug market."

Open-air drug markets and homelessness, coupled with upticks in blatant daylight shoplifting, residential and commercial burglaries, shootings and other violent crimes, have left citizens "starting to wake up to the reality that’s now become their nightmare as far as public safety and crime goes."

The police union was not involved in organizing the first unsuccessful recall effort, Montoya said.

Addressing the two recall efforts during his tenure, Boudin participated in a national organizing call for the campaign group "Our Revolution," which was advertised as "celebrating 5 years of electing progressive champions from coast to coast." Mentioning how both of his parents were incarcerated growing up, Boudin argued that America’s approach to mass incarceration is not rehabilitating people.

"As San Francisco’s district attorney, I’ve worked tirelessly since day one to follow through on the campaign promises that I made to all of you and to the people of San Francisco that got me elected," Boudin said. "It’s following up on those kinds of promises we made, holding corporations accountable, holding police accountable, reducing our reliance on incarceration and instead prioritizing diversion, mental health treatment and keeping families together that I’ve been able to follow through on my commitments to those that elected me."

"But it’s also angered the ruling class, it’s also angered the billionaire class," he continued. "And that’s why in San Francisco they organized not one, but two separate recall campaigns to try to get me kicked out of office before I’m even halfway through with my term."

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Montoya described how California’s Proposition 47 reduced drug possession to a misdemeanor, but because selling drugs is still a felony, San Francisco police officers will still make arrests on suspected dealers. But the union president says "because Chesa Boudin believes that those who are selling drugs may be the victims of society’s failures, he’s not going to prosecute these people."

"The ones selling these drugs are feeding the demons of these addicts. They are literally responsible for people dying on our streets. We lost more people to fentanyl overdoses last year than we did to COVID," Montoya told Fox News in a phone interview Tuesday. "He’s not prosecuting people. We’re seeing the same people again and again and again. It’s taking recidivism to a whole new level. He likes to tout that there’s almost zero recidivism when he releases people from the jails. Not true, Mr. Boudin."

Furthermore, Montoya argues that his detectives bring cases to the district attorney’s office where violent crimes are caught on video, the suspect was caught with a weapon on their person, and ballistics are matching, but Boudin will refuse bring charges without further DNA evidence.

In this Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, file photo, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks to reporters before his swearing-in ceremony in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) (AP)

"So I’m calling nonsense on his list that ending jails makes us all safer. I’m just one person, I’m the union president. But they’ve woken a sleeping giant with the citizens. And they are now speaking loud and clear. I think many have buyer’s remorse when it comes to the last district attorney’s elections."

Boudin argued on Monday's call that individual robberies and assault shouldn’t be the only crimes prosecuted, as "systemic legal violations often committed by the billionaire class and the corporations they own not only victimize one person at a time, but hundreds of thousands of people."

Boudin said he’s reduced the number of juveniles in juvenile detention centers by 75% since taking office.

"Children do not belong in cages. Not at the border, not in San Francisco and not on my watch," he said on the call Monday. "We also have followed through on our commitment to hold police who commit crimes accountable… In addition, we know that we cannot reform public safety if we do not pay attention to the big picture systemic inequalities and abuses of the law in power."

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Boudin mentioned on the call that his parents were both serving prison sentences by the time he was 14 months old. He failed to mention, however, that his parents were both members of the far-left militant group Weather Underground, and his father remains incarcerated in the infamous Oct. 20, 1981, Brink's robbery after felony murder convictions of two police officers and a security guard. His mother was released in 2003.

Danielle Wallace is a Digital Reporter for Fox News and FOX Business. Follow her on Twitter at @danimwallace . If you've got a tip, you can email her at danielle.wallace@fox.com .