Four West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports in this roundup – including one case of suspicious activity that wasn’t what it seemed to be. First, two burglaries (plus where police reports say others have happened) and a car prowl:
HIGHLAND PARK BURGLARY: From Cam:
7700 block of 17th Ave SW. Wednesday, Dec. 9, i came home to find back door ajar and the power turned off. the house was ransacked and discovered a number of apple electronic items and camera equipment missing. keep your eyes peeled and report any clues.
GATEWOOD BURGLARY: Vanessa says this is the getaway car used by burglars who hit a home near 39th SW & SW Kenyon in Gatewood on Sunday afternoon.
She says the red SUV was parked in her neighbors’ driveway and that a man ran from the side of the house “with the TV in hand.” Police were called and arrived quickly; a door and window were damaged, she says.
OTHER BURGLARY REPORTS: Though we’ve only found one since Monday on the SPD Police Reports map – – early Wednesday morning, a nonresidential break-in in the 4400 block of Fauntleroy – Tweets by Beat, collected on our Crime Watch page, reveal 11 others reported since Sunday (no details available in SPD’s online records, just times/locations, which is why reader reports are so helpful – editor@westseattleblog.com):
-Tonight, 7300 block 16th SW
-Tonight, 4800 block 21st SW
-This morning, 39th SW/SW Elmgrove
-Wednesday night, 7700 block 17th SW
-Wednesday night, 3000 block 52nd SW
-Early Wednesday, 37th SW/SW Oregon (commercial)
-Early Tuesday, 2500 block SW Trenton (commercial)
-Monday night, 4700 block 41st SW
-Monday night, 1700 block California SW
-Monday afternoon, 8500 block 14th SW
-Early Monday, 7200 block Detroit SW
CAR PROWL: From Kristiana:
Our car was rifled through last night at Spokane and 48th SW. Nothing of value to steal and no damage, but stuff was strewn on the seats and a door was left cracked open.
Yes, it’s been reported to police – even if nothing (or “nothing of value”) is taken, it’s important to file a report, and you can even do that online.
WHAT LOOKS SUSPICIOUS MIGHT NOT ALWAYS BE: From a reader:
A package was delivered to our front door just after dark, and I wasn’t able to get to the door for a couple of minutes. When I went outside to retrieve the package, a young couple was walking down the sidewalk, shined a flashlight down the front walkway to my house, got into a Budget rental truck parked nearby and drove away relatively rapidly without saying anything.
Having received a recent SPD SW Precinct report concerning car prowls and package theft, which stated “Thieves will often follow or watch for FedEx, UPS, US Mail and other delivery trucks and then target a home after a delivery is made,” I was suspicious so I stood there watching what they were doing.
I started to call the SW Precinct’s non-emergency line (feeling like I was maybe be overly cautious) and then saw the same Budget truck drive by under a streetlight on the next block behind our home and heard them stop. So I called 911, thinking this was now too suspicious to not report immediately. The 911 operator took all of the information and said an officer would be sent to the area. I opted to not have an officer follow up, however, I had a call back from an officer within about 15 minutes.
They had stopped the truck, and it was a Budget rental truck being used by UPS as they had run out of vehicles for delivery. The officer verified their info and left a message for me per this.
It was such a relief to know how this ended, but it was also a good wakeup call on being careful with deliveries and reporting suspicious activity if something doesn’t seem right.
I’m also extremely impressed and very thankful with how quickly the SW Precinct followed up on this and reported back. Kudos to them!
ADDED: After reading this, @SudsyMaggie shared this photo of a UPS-deployed Budget truck she’d seen recently:
@westseattleblog Spotted a UPS-rented budget truck on First Hill this week. Took a picture it was so unusual! pic.twitter.com/kCAJjlSp8K
— SudsyMaggie (@SudsyMaggie) December 11, 2015
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