West Seattle Crime Watch: Mail thieves strike again & again

We don’t have stats, but we have to say we’re hearing more about mail theft these days – so please take steps to protect yours. Tonight, police were dispatched to a mail-theft report in southeast West Seattle, in the 9400 block of 5th SW (map), with someone reported to have gone through mailboxes and then left southbound in a white SUV – no other description. We heard earlier from Barney in Arbor Heights, who saw eight mailboxes open early this morning on SW 98th near 37th SW (map).

Interested in detailed prevention info? The West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network brought in police and Postal Service inspectors to talk about mail theft/fraud at a meeting two years ago – here’s our coverage, including video. And here’s the Postal Inspection Service’s advice on preventing (and reporting) mail theft.

alki resident April 6, 2015 (10:32 pm)

Barney, you’re a few short blocks from me. Our block was hit this past weekend. All mailboxes were open. Now investing in locked box.

justducky April 7, 2015 (12:06 am)

Purchased a large Mail Boss locking mailbox on their website-they are a local company. You can see examples at True Value and McLendon’s.
If the price scares you a little, they are having a really good clearance sale on some styles of mailboxes online.

T Rex April 7, 2015 (8:16 am)

I have a locked mail box and my mail has been stolen twice. I am at Portland and California. All of my neighbors have had their mail stolen as well.

They were able to pop it open, probably with a tire iron or a large screw driver. So make sure you get something they cannot get into.

birdygirl April 7, 2015 (9:48 am)

What is the best way to report finding discarded, probably stolen, mail?

Gill April 7, 2015 (10:27 am)

The best way to report stolen mail is to your local PO in our case the one at Westwood Village.
The new manager is taking info and putting it on their computer to track where the mail is being stolen and alerting her delivery persons.

So far, knock on metal, none of the Mail Boss locking mailboxes including our own have been broken in to. They are expensive but as pointed out they are a local company and seem to work.

Jenny at Mail Boss April 7, 2015 (2:25 pm)

I work with Mail Boss! Thank you to justducky and Gill for the mentions. Re Trex’s concern, unfortunately, most locking mailboxes can be popped open in seconds. All Mail Boss models feature a patented anti-pry latch locking system so it takes several minutes rather than seconds to get into them. They are not 100% theft proof, but it’s exceedingly rare. We are based in Redmond, and happy to offer discounts to local customers who can pick up at our warehouse in Redmond, too.

Miette April 9, 2015 (1:22 pm)

We are experiencing the same thing in Des Moines, WA here too. I had my locked mailbox broken open and mail scattered recently. This week we noticed the mailboxes are open in the neighborhood too.

Rachael April 9, 2015 (8:36 pm)

We HAD a locking mailbox until someone pried it open and stole our mail. I’ve had people throw firecrackers, garbage, and rocks in it. The last thing someone did was jack it up by jamming a large rock in it. What the heck is wrong with people. Oh, and our mail gets stolen regularly. Makes me so angry…

Paul Napolitan April 15, 2015 (8:19 pm)

Today April 15 2015 several pieces of opened mail from other addresses were placed in our mailbox before 2:15 p.m. Some of our mail has been stolen about 6 days ago. The non emergency police number were not interested since I didn’t see anyone. The Post Office Westwood Village was not interested in taking a stolen mail report and just told me to monitor my mail. All I wanted to do was alert the Post Office and the police dept. I did alert the neighbors. A few years ago when this happened the post office was very helpful as was the non- emergency police number, even taking a report. I just read that the Post could of said that they would alert our Postal delivery person. However, they didm”t offer that solution either.

Sorry, comment time is over.