We weren't planning on writing a crime blotter piece about a stolen dog today, but here we are — because this one says something about the state of San Francisco that statistics alone can't capture.

Stella, a 16-year-old dog with a very recognizable underbite and a 7-year-old human who loves her, was stolen from Huntington Park on Nob Hill sometime between 10:30 and 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, April 8th. Broad daylight. One of the most iconic parks in the city. Just — gone.

Let that sink in for a moment. Someone looked at a senior dog, clearly someone's beloved pet, and decided to take her. In the middle of the morning. In a public park.

Stella's family is asking residents walking through the Tenderloin, SoMa, Civic Center, and Nob Hill to keep their eyes peeled. She's 16, so she's not exactly going to be hard to spot — an elderly dog with a distinctive underbite isn't blending into any crowd.

We talk a lot about property crime in this city. We talk about car break-ins, retail theft, the kinds of crimes that make national headlines and tank tourism numbers. But stealing a family's elderly dog? That's a different kind of low. That's someone taking a living, breathing family member from a child.

This is what happens when a city signals — through policy, through prosecution rates, through sheer indifference — that low-level crime carries no real consequences. The boundaries of what's "acceptable" theft keep expanding. First it's your car window, then your catalytic converter, then apparently your grandmother's dog.

If you're in any of those neighborhoods, look for Stella. Underbite. Elderly. Probably confused and scared. A little girl is waiting for her to come home.

And to whoever took her: the city may not be watching, but the neighborhood is.