27 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Where car thieves are hitting"

• Joe Hopefull April 17, 2016 (6:35 pm)

  This is truly horrible and based on the types of people down on Alki this weekend, it is only going to get worse… I truly wish there was something we could do to make this a better place to live again… 

  • WSB April 17, 2016 (6:55 pm)

    “Types of people”? You generally cannot tell a criminal on sight, believe me. That aside, auto theft was down last year from the year before in the SW Precinct (which includes South Park as well as West Seattle), and though one week does not a trend make, this looks down a bit from last month. Of course, ONE is too many. You can crunch the numbers in a variety of ways here: http://www.seattle.gov/seattle-police-department/crime-data/crime-dashboard

• Dawsonst April 17, 2016 (8:21 pm)

  There’s a serial car prowler in the Junction area. At least he/she is locking the doors afterwards. Looks to be using a keyless emulator to get into cars. Third time in three weeks my car has been a target. Nothing in car to take. Just annoying.

• Argonautter April 17, 2016 (10:03 pm)

  The icon in the 6000 block of 38th SW is where someone stole the wheels off our 2008 Honda Fit. Les Schwab said the same thing happened to another Fit a few days earlier and a Jeep in the Junction Safeway parking lot. Police said this was an unusual crime, but it seems to be happening a lot recently here in West Seattle. Locking lug nuts.

  • Helihu April 18, 2016 (12:47 pm)

    My wife and I saw your poor car one morning last week on a walk. We might have cried a little. I was kind of shocked the thieves left the jacks, but she said that the wheels are going for $200 each for souped-up Civics, so a $10 jack (maybe also stolen) is no loss. Anyway, I’m sorry for your loss and your trouble. 

• jcthea April 17, 2016 (10:03 pm)

  I suspect there are more on this map that aren’t being reported too. Our 2013 Subaru was rummaged through at the end of March. The fuse box had been opened, but somehow they didn’t get the car. Unnerving, for sure. We reported it as a car prowl, but since they didn’t take anything traceable, I don’t suspect we’ll ever find whomever did it.

• David April 17, 2016 (11:16 pm)

  @Joe: “Types of people”? Please elaborate – we’d love to hear it. As for making this a great place to live again, it already is. There’s a lot more to West Seattle than Alki on a sunny weekend.

• MJ April 17, 2016 (11:42 pm)

  Come on whenever it’s hot out the crowd at Alki changes. You’ve got idiots on crotch rockets pulling wheelies and people blaring their music way beyond what’s reasonable. It’s frustrating to take family to the beach and deal with the pot heads and other riff raff that show up.

  • Oakley34 April 18, 2016 (1:42 pm)

    Blaming those people for car prowls though, that is also “frustrating” in 2016.

• BL April 18, 2016 (8:54 am)

  “make this a better place to live again… ” sounds like… “Make America great again”

  West Seattle is a great place to live and while America could use some work,, when were we really ever GREAT for everybody who lives here?

• Cynical girl April 18, 2016 (9:24 am)

  By types of people, he means anyone that doesn’t agree with his views and/ or beliefs. 

  • jasoninwestwood April 18, 2016 (11:52 am)

    I think we all know what “types of people” Joe is referring to and it has nothing to do with their views and/or beliefs….

• ScubaFrog April 18, 2016 (11:10 am)

  I live on Alki, when it gets sunny, cars race up and down Alki at abominable speeds.  Motorcycles do wheelies and fly down here in groups (one rider killed a child several years ago).  The bass stereo systems hurt owner’s and our kids’ ears, and hopping lowriders veer into oncoming traffic.  Basically, when the sun comes out, it’s unbearable to live here.  I don’t expect or want favorable treatment.  I only want the laws we have enforced. 

  There hasn’t been any real law enforcement down here in years.  De-policing is the term I believe.  Bedlam from now until September. 

  “The spotlight topic this month is parking enforcement”.  Not car theft.  Not shootings.  Not breaking and enterings.  Parking enforcement. 

  • WSB April 18, 2016 (11:23 am)

    All of those have been spotlight topics. The police briefings include the other topics but they REALLY are contingent on what’s asked. Like any meeting, it’s dependent on the people who show up. Richard, the president, also would welcome help in coming up with topics and guests. He has been keeping this group alive on a shoestring (and I don’t mean financial, I mean in terms of help) for the past year or so – if anyone can help, please come to the meeting and talk with him. – TR

• Brenda April 18, 2016 (12:57 pm)

  I agree with you Joe!!!

• MJ April 18, 2016 (1:08 pm)

  Wow I had no idea a child was killed down there that’s terrible. It’s not about ‘type of people’ it’s about how people act. No one group of people are being idiots, so it’s not that anyone’s making racist statements. I won’t take my kid to Alki anymore because of some of the people that show up.

  • WSB April 18, 2016 (1:49 pm)

    For accuracy’s sake, because comments are archived as well as stories: No child was killed on Alki (or anywhere else in West Seattle, in terms of a traffic collision) in recent years. I went looking for what SF might have been referring to. Maybe it’s this: Ten years ago, in April 2006 – months before we started covering news here, so we don’t have an archive story about it, but seattlepi.com does – a 37-year-old motorcyclist hit a 21-year-old skateboarder in the 1200 block of Alki Ave late one night; neither survived. – TR

  • David April 18, 2016 (3:28 pm)

    A nice alternative to Alki on a sunny day is Lincoln Park. My wife and I live in the very south Alki area (near La Rustica), and we’ve discovered riding our bikes down to Lincoln Park is a much better alternative sometimes. We still enjoy Alki and just expect that it will always be the way it is on sunny days, so we’ve gotten used to it. Even if people are being obnoxious there, it means they’re not elsewhere stealing cars. Plus, the “sunny-day Alki culture” is somewhat a result of modern-day Seattle culture. There’s a lot of marijuana because it’s legal now (though there was still plenty before it became legal), and an alarming number of people in Seattle are anti-police and blame them even when criminals are fully at fault – check out the comments section on the WSB article regarding the tragic Highland Park crash a couple weeks ago if you haven’t already and you’ll see what I mean. So a bigger police presence would likely just draw more complaints from Seattlites, especially if no one at Alki is actually committing a crime. I think having more police in more high-crime areas of West Seattle is a better distribution of resources.

• Jared April 18, 2016 (1:27 pm)

  Two of my neighbors on 18th Ave SW had their vehicles broken into last week. One had their window smashed and drum kit stolen. The other had no visible signs of forced entry on his newer vehicle, but had several items stolen. I have no answer to why these incidents aren’t reflected on the map; both incidents were reported to the police.

  • WSB April 18, 2016 (1:41 pm)

    Hi – I think some misunderstanding has erupted here and I should have spoken up sooner. The map is sorted for CAR THEFT – stealing the entire car – not car break-ins. You can follow the link above to the live map and sort it, or not, for any kind of crime that interests you. As this particular story started with a reader report about a stolen car, I decided to look at the past week of stolen-car reports. – TR

• Carole April 18, 2016 (3:00 pm)

  Re: parking enforcement, perhaps that includes towing RVs?  I saw two towed on Trenton today, one as I pulled into Westwood, and a second being hitched up as I left.  Police officer on hand overseeing the process.

  • WSB April 18, 2016 (3:15 pm)

    RVs, cars, motorcycles, whatever. If you have a question or concern about what’s enforced, what’s not, what should be, what shouldn’t be … these questions have come up from time to time at the meetings and I believe that’s why Richard sought out a guest. For May, he’s booked the director of the city’s “code compliance” office – that’s someone who can talk about nuisance houses, junk storage rules, etc.

  • Sunuva April 18, 2016 (3:26 pm)

    I’m glad to hear they are doing something about those RVs that have been parked there on Trenton!

• ScubaFrog April 18, 2016 (3:30 pm)

  WSB, yes, that’s the incident I’m referring to.  I’m getting old and memory’s not great – for some reason I thought the 21 year old victim was a child.  Regardless, a tragic incident we can all agree. 

• Cynical girl April 18, 2016 (4:57 pm)

  Now there’s talk of allowing alcohol consumption in parks. 

• Cheetah fast dad April 19, 2016 (1:24 am)

  Friends caught prowler (Asian female) on 44th one block north of charlestown.  Reported to police and got  license plate number.

  • Ben April 24, 2016 (3:42 pm)

    Any more details on this?  Our ’12 passat has still not turned up, and a neighbors car was rifled through a week after ours went missing.  

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