26 Replies to "Update: Brief police search in Roxhill area"

• Steph April 2, 2014 (6:03 pm)

  Once again thanks for quick report. Just got home from Target. 6 cops cars went past me at various times from various directions heading in that area.

• Kap April 2, 2014 (6:04 pm)

  Assault on officer by juv.

  • WSB April 2, 2014 (6:07 pm)

    Kap – there’s no medic call, so if that’s what it was, at least no notable injury? Thanks. Sounds now like somebody’s being taken into custody…

  • WSB April 2, 2014 (6:12 pm)

    We just talked to police on the scene. Nothing about an assault; they stopped a guy who had a felony warrant, he took off running.

• Mookie April 2, 2014 (6:13 pm)

  It started with a Frank unit reporting in that he was “out” with someone at 26th/Barton. Shortly after that, he radioed in for more units, and dispatcher called for a “fast back up.” As vehicles converged on the area, it was communicated the suspect ran along trail through Roxhill Park near Cambridge; someone asked what the suspect was wanted for, original officer radioed that suspect had a felony warrant out for his arrest, and assault on an officer. It sounded like suspect was a juvenile.

  • WSB April 2, 2014 (6:16 pm)

    Thanks; I heard a name on the radio but it’s not matching anything in the system.

• anonyme April 2, 2014 (6:25 pm)

  Great. Just great. I can hardly wait to go to work tomorrow and wait for the next major police action.

• amalia April 2, 2014 (6:34 pm)

  I love how you guys (editor and citizens alike) are all over this. Thanks! (ooh, sirens in Sunrise Heights right now!)

  • WSB April 2, 2014 (6:42 pm)

    Just an aid response, says 911 log. 2300 SW Webster.

• amalia April 2, 2014 (6:50 pm)

  WSB, that cracked me up!

• Vanilla Gorilla April 2, 2014 (8:10 pm)

  Roxhill is the happening spot in WS as of late..WTF is going on!! last night i drove by and seen 2 patrol cars camped out at the transit center then 2 more in the qfc parking lot!!
  overheard the 2 in qfc talking and it sounded like they were looking for some juveniles hanging out with bats chasing people??

• Eric1 April 2, 2014 (10:21 pm)

  What is a juvenile felon doing out on the street? Makes me hope that the new juvenile facility will have twice the space for all these miscreants. Locke them up and they won’t commit crimes or procreate.

• Displaced West Seattleite April 3, 2014 (1:44 am)

  Just one thing after another in the Westwood/Roxhill/Roxbury area… Been that way for some time now

• Eric April 3, 2014 (5:23 am)

  This has to be frustrating for the police having to deal with all of these POS, only to have a justice system that almost passively condones this behavior with such lenient sentencing. Not to mention being under a microscope constantly.

  I don’t know what is going on with Westwood lately, but it becoming ridiculous. There needs to be a bigger police presence in the Westwood/Roxhill area and there needs to be consequences when these POS are arrested. Otherwise as a society as a whole, we’re also passively condoning this type of behavior.

  It seems that if a type of crime happens more and more, Seattle’s solution is to lessen not only the consequences, but the type of crime it is. It seems now that Grand Theft Auto is often referred to as taking a vehicle without permission. Well no bleep! Of course stealing is taking something without permission!

  And remember the girl killed in Ballard 20 years ago? Her killer got 51 years. For the same type of crime that happened in White Center a while back, the killer got what, a few years?

  And I implore all the people that are stunted financially, emotionally, and/or psychologically, and you can’t even take care of yourself, please stop pro-creating. It just exacerbates the problem. In fact, I would say often times this is the reason. People having kids that have no business having kids.

  • WSB April 3, 2014 (6:12 am)

    Eric – Just one point, regarding the law. The law is made by state legislators. Taking a motor vehicle without permission has not replaced auto theft. It is a separate felony. The city has nothing to do with making the law:
    .
    http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9A.56.075
    .
    I am not a lawyer so I can’t tell you exactly why prosecutors charge that and not auto theft, but they can only charge what they believe they have the evidence to prove. There is also “possession of a stolen vehicle.” Different degrees of the same thing, but for auto theft, they have to be able to prove the person arrested took the car. It is not even up to police to decide which charges – that is out of their hands; they might feel they have someone dead to rights on vehicle theft but prosecutors, who work for King County, have to review the evidence and file the charges.
    .
    Then, it might be up to a jury to decide what they’re guilty of (for example, as I finish my report on yesterday’s proceedings at the Chambers trial, the jury will have to consider whether it was murder, manslaughter, assault, or whether it was not a crime at all). And finally, there is the judge who pronounces the sentence, based on laws/guidelines that are also the work of state lawmakers.
    .
    I am not saying any of the above is the way it “should” be, but that’s the way it is, and if any changes are to be made, you need to know who ultimately is accountable at which step of the process. – Tracy

• carole April 3, 2014 (10:59 am)

  Tracy, thank you for your post about responsibility. As someone who worked in the system for many years, it is often disheartening to see knee-jerk comments about judges who are constrained by proseccutor decisions and legislative and case law mandates.

• Rebecca April 3, 2014 (2:01 pm)

  I saw mounted patrol by Westwood the other day. I was a little surprised because I’ve never seen the horses in the neighborhood like that, but it seems they are trying to increase a presence

• Eric April 3, 2014 (5:15 pm)

  Thanks for the clarification on the GTA vs. “taking a vehicle without permission.” It seems that this law was added in 2003.

  I understand that the law is ultimately up to state legislators. I should have worded that better as I was referring to Seattle specifically, since this is where I live.

  And unlike Carole’s statement about knee-jerk reactions against judges, it was not. It was my opinion about the over all justice system here which I see as fairly impotent.

  I actually looked up the laws and ” taking a car without permission” holds the same penalty as theft of a vehicle. A maximum of 10 years in prison and $20,000 fine.

  http://www.theftwashington.com/motor-vehicle-theft

  Yet, as we well know, people can steal cars multiple times without facing any real jail time. Isn’t the average like stealing a car around 7 times before any real punishment results? How do the state’s guidelines go from 10 years maximum to able to steal a car around 7 times before getting a year or two? Are our guidelines this weak? Are our prosecutors this timid in executing the law? And our judges don’t have to follow the prosecutors recommendations, though I’m sure it is easier for them to just do so.

  I understand plea agreements and all, but start the penalty high in the first place so that even with the plea agreement the person still gets a significant amount of time.

  Since criminals already seem to have a skewed moral compass, consequences for their actions are what is needed.

  Same with residential burglaries. And even though the system may like to word it as a “victimless crime”, the reality of it is that it is not a victimless crime.

  That car could very well be the person’s only transportation to work, or their work vehicle. The busted front door and the possessions taken from one’s home. That costs money and often times the insurance deductible is high enough that the person might as well pay out of pocket to fix the door and replace at least some of the items. Not to mention the feelings of invasion in one’s abode and privacy.

  Like I said before, I feel for the cops having to continually arrest these POS over and over only to see them right back on the streets within a short amount of time doing the same crap, because our justice system is impotent.

  Eric

• Brian April 3, 2014 (8:46 pm)

  Wow. Just Wow!

  I can’t beleive how many people comment on how we need to lock more people up, that we need more police, and bigger jails.

  Really. I thought we lived in a more educated and progressive city. Why don’t you people post about trying to solve the problem from an organic bottom up approach of supporting families, increasing services, and supporting youth at risk.

  No its easier to spout off here. And the West Seattle Blog and their play by play of police activity is akin to police porn.

• Alphonse April 3, 2014 (9:35 pm)

  Just out of curiosity, Brian, how many times has your car been stolen and/or your home burglarized? I don’t like porn so I don’t seek it out. Maybe you should do the same with “police porn”, i.e. crime reporting.

• Brian April 3, 2014 (9:54 pm)

  Just out of curiosity, Brian, how many times has your car been stolen and/or your home burglarized?”

  Exactly how is that relevant?

  Didn’t Einstein say the definintion of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? We can build more jails and arrest more peopl. We have done that very strategy over the past 100 years to no avail. Maybe one more jail will change things? Maybe one more militarized cop will do it?

  Puhleez. The WSB and their play by play police post do nothing but incite the locals that “they” are taking over…just read the comments.

  • WSB April 3, 2014 (10:35 pm)

    “Incite”? Inform, yes. Incite, no. We often get texts or questions about police activity that don’t turn into stories – the police are gone by the time we can get to where some big response is reported, or it turns out to have been no big deal. In this particular case, police converged on Westwood from all over the SW Precinct area because of a “Fast Backup” request, meaning screaming sirens and flashing lights were heard/seen in multiple corners – Westwood and Roxhill Park are high-visibility because of the shopping center and transit hub – which led to texts and phone calls and Facebook messages, and led to us trying to find out what was going on. This relatively short story was the result. – Tracy

• Eric April 4, 2014 (5:21 am)

  Wow, just wow!

  I can’t believe how many people live in their little bubble and probably don’t even have to deal with this day to day nonsense and then spout their righteous “progressive” thinking about being a more educated this and progressive that.

  When a person is a habitual criminal breaking into multiple houses or stealing multiple cars, yes, they need to be locked up. When someone commits a crime, they need to deal with the consequences. Obviously the victim of the crime already has to deal with the consequences. Consequences that they never asked for, but oh the poor misunderstood criminal. Never mind the victim who is trying to do right.

  I thought I leaned to the left in my politics, but when I took Human Service classes at S.C.C.C. the teachers went so far to the left that everything just became systemic failures to the point of absolving everyone of their own personal responsibility. And I often heard people getting their classes paid for, getting a computer paid for by the state as well as their cell phone bill paid for, actually complain that some of these services were BS. Some people were even taking the money given for classes and using the money to buy stuff for themselves and dropping a class. The sense of entitlement I saw at the school was astounding. Even the more responsible students in these programs passively enabled others as they also blamed everything on the system. You know, ironically, the very same system that enabled them to go to school and pay for a computer and cell phone (paid).

  Now of course not everyone is like this, and there does need to be programs for people and at risk youth. But if people really think this IS the solution, they are deluding themselves, because there are many people who will just simply take advantage of some of these family programs.

  My aunt for example was a welfare queen and I remember that she might have worked for maybe a month or two in her whole life. Yet, to further put a burden on society, she had three kids in which she had no business having. Now I have three messed up cousins, doing the very same kind of things my aunt did and who are now living off the system. So when we speak of Einstein’s definition of insanity, this also fits the bill.

  If the problem is going to really be solved from the so-called bottom up. Then at some point people are going to have to be held responsible and act responsible. There needs to be way more invested in programs like Planned Parenthood, because when someone is financially stunted as well as emotionally and/or psychologically stunted, then they have no business having children and often times that is the problem. A person cannot even take care of themselves properly and then has a kid or more and now they can’t take care of not only themselves, but one or more kids. And the cycle usually continues. How is that sane?

  Eric

• miws April 4, 2014 (7:55 am)

  Brian, while I may agree with your thoughts on an “organic, bottom up approach”, WSB is simply doing their job; reporting West Seattle News.

  .

  If they are “inciting” anything, it is to get people in the community talking with each other, and while there may be knee-jerk, “the world is ending” comments, (show me where that doesn’t happen on internet comment threads), many people are being inspired to get involved somehow; going to community meetings, organizing issue specific groups, and contacting various agencies and elected officials, or otherwise getting involved.

  .

  Mike

• Brian April 4, 2014 (9:42 pm)

  Come on WSB just look at how many stories you devote to the SPD. Reading your blog you would think that West Seattle is just overrun with crime.

  Maybe using a little restraint would be prudent. Especially when you read the comments that you are generating.

• Eric April 5, 2014 (6:12 am)

  Yeah, WSB. Please be more prudent! I find it ridiculous that a blog titled, “WestSeattleBlog” would actually have the audacity to report what is actually happening in West Seattle!

  It doesn’t matter that the crime watch is only a fraction of what you actually report over all. It might be best if you don’t report crime in West Seattle at all, because we know how reality works; if you don’t report crime, then there is no crime. As they say, out of sight out of mind.

  In fact, I’ll take it one step further. I think the WSB might be suffering from a variation of some good ole fashion hero syndrome. Kind of like the fireman starting a fire, just to be able to put it out and look “the hero.” I have a feeling that the WSB is actually committing many of these crimes, just so they can report it here.

  Eric

Sorry, comment time is over.