West Seattle Crime Watch: Two reports from the inbox

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Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports out of the WSB inbox – car vandalism and car theft (different part of the peninsula than the car-theft wave we reported here earlier this week) – read on:

First, from Carole at California/Charlestown:

I came out Wed morning about 8:30 am to find the driver side of my (dark blue) car covered in white spray paint. Fortunately, possibly because it was so wet last night, it did not adhere well, and Burien Toyota’s body shop was able to remove it without damage. It happened between 8:30 pm Tuesday and 8:30 am Wednesday. Not cool.

Luke in Seaview hopes you will be on the lookout for his stolen car – believed to have been taken late Monday night from an alley-side driveway near 49th/Juneau:

It’s a 2002 Silver Volvo S60 sedan, and on the rear next to the bumper are two stickers: one is the Apple Macintosh logo, and the other is the Human Rights Campaign logo(square shape) and the colors blue with two yellow equal signs. License number is 791 NY-.

Another reminder that the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council’s first meeting of fall is coming up later this month, 7 pm Tuesday, September 21st, at the Southwest Precinct.

wsmama September 9, 2010 (9:49 am)

Carole,
While walking by Charleston Cafe I passed three caucasian teenage boys, one shaking what appeared to be a spray can. This was on Tuesday night around 9:30. Obviously there are issues with vandalism, but they weren’t doing anything at the time. I actually watched them for a while as they were goofing around (and had the spray can), but they didn’t do anything. They must have sprayed your car around that time. So sorry that that happened.

JB September 9, 2010 (11:20 am)

wsmama – When you see something like that, please call 911 and inform the police!

If they have police available they will send them to the area or confront the teenagers. There is no logical reason for a pack of teenagers to be walking around our neighborhood with a can of spray paint.

HolyKow September 9, 2010 (12:57 pm)

Yeah JB, because it is illegal to walk around with a can of spray paint. Quick, let’s take cops off of the street to see what these masterminds are thinking up.

If you see them doing something illegal, call 911…but calling 911 because someone is doing something you do not understand or know anything about and it is not a crime, not a good idea.

IE:
Guy was just minding his business walking down the street with a baseball bat…do you call the cops? He could be about to break those windows, beat those children, or just getting off of the bus to go home from company softball practice…

Bad advice IMHO.

Carole September 9, 2010 (2:01 pm)

Thx wsmama. I will report that Burien Toyota cleaned it up no charge – good customer service!
If it was the same kids the only thing around my car they painted was the car.

Well, they were shaking the can, according to wsmama – indicates they likely intended to use it – think they were on their way to art class? More likely they were going to spray it wherever the whim took them. I know our building, dumpster and recycle bins are repeatedly sprayed and tagged. My car wasn’t “tagged.” It was a huge random clump of paint running from the window all down the side panel. Guess I should be glad they didn’t do the entire car; all it cost me this time was some time from work.

JB September 10, 2010 (5:42 pm)

@HolyKow

Your analogy lacks merit a kid carrying a bat is not the same as a kid shaking a can of spray paint. We have neighborhoods with vandalism problems.

I’ve called a lot of non-emergencies into the police. When they dispatch an officer to the area to collect additional information the officers are always gracious. SPD doesn’t maintain a non-emergency line anymore. The want crimes and suspicious activity called in so it can be handled accordingly. Sometimes the send officers, sometimes they don’t, but at least dispatch documents the incident and SPD makes the call. For example, a reader phoned in ‘suspicious activity’ near a port-a-let a week or so ago, which I believe resulted in an arrest of a wanted criminal. A bunch of kids with spray-paint warrants a call. SPD can make the decision on what to do based on their available resources.

Sorry, comment time is over.