I worry that if these criminals resist arrest and are hurt during apprehension, their inevitable cash settlements with the city will be reported on as yet another sign of a police department in need of reform.

@John

You have identified an interesting business model. Go for the deep pockets of Palo Alto. After you're arrested, go to a lawyer who specializes in suing police in Palo Alto and get a 6-figure settlement. This will also help activists on Palo Alto's Human Rights Commission bolster their demands for yet more police oversight. And if the criminal is not white, the ACLU can jump in with charges of "systemic racism" going back to the 1930s, as they did with Foothills Preserve.

These brazen criminal acts are more prolific than ever before. It is another breakdown of societal norms. A generation with poor parenting, poor discipline and poor adult mentors enables an attitude of poor social behavior.

Back in the day, a child feared getting caught for misdeeds, from school, from parents and even from the local police officer. Now it seems to me that society wants to make excuses for bad behavior, calling the miscreants victims rather than thieves or whatever.

It is time for some old fashioned discipline in the home and in the school.