I lived in Los Angeles in the early 90s for two years, and visited frequently through the rest of the decade. Experienced petty crime on at least 3 occasions, had a few close calls with violent crime, saw the Rodney King riots unfold, and heard some pretty crazy stories.
I've spent the last 8 years in LA... I've experienced zero instances of petty crime. I know it's not gone from some conversations I've had and everyone here has their take on LA's various problems, but across demographics nearly everyone I know agrees that this city is definitely a safer, more chill, higher quality of life place than it was 20-30 years ago. Except in one regard: housing is less affordable -- how much less depends on which boom/bust cycle you're looking at and who you're looking at, but definitely less affordable. So, not coincidentally, homelessness has become a much more serious issue.
The weirdest thing is that this is apparently happening with a net outflow from the state. Rents up over 60% with a stable/decreasing demand pool for housing is an odd dynamic and likely means this is no ordinary supply problem.
I can't speak to the Bay Area or the rest of California, but that's what things look like in LA.
Only a net migration of domestic residents. After factoring in natural population growth and foreign immigration you still have a growing population.
When I flew for the holidays my bike was stolen out of a gated garage. LAPD isn't going to jump on a grenade for my bike. Cars parked along the street are regularly targeted for smash and grabs. The nearby encampment maintains a cache of torn apart electric scooters and bike parts (maybe mine is in there too). I've been on a bus that was 'ambushed' for a bike mounted in the rack out front. Last week on the train two unstable men made eye contact and started posturing and raising their voices, one pulled a shiv out of his pocket and luckily the other one fled the car, but that could have been bad. Life on the west side, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything.
Sorry about the bike, though, maybe that's a signal for me to be a little less casual with stuff in the garage, and I definitely feel you about encounters with people on public transport.
I did see this pattern in SF though, minor crimes go largely ignored.
If [x] has a low crime rate, that's just because people aren't reporting crimes.
