West Seattle Crime Watch: P-patch pilfering; stolen-car swap…

Several West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share … First, if you haven’t seen it in the WSB Forums already, Jennifer reported what you might call the “stolen car swap” – her car was stolen, and someone else’s (similar) stolen car left in its place. Read her story, and see a photo, here. Now, to the P-Patch pilfering at Longfellow Creek, as reported by Shannon, who says the same thieves keep returning:

They have been spotted four times now in the past few weeks and confronted at least twice. They are two men driving a blue Isuzu truck with Washington license plates A35–3U. We would like to first warn other gardeners in the area to be on the look out for these folks. Second, we would appreciate any help with stopping these people by reporting them to the police immediately. If you see this truck anywhere, call the police.

Not only are these men stealing from the gardeners who work so hard on our plots in the Longfellow Creek P-Patch, but they are stealing from the food bank plots we maintain there as well. The P-Patch is on city property and is marked as a city P-Patch. There is no reason for confusion on their part as they have been confronted and told this is not open to the public.

Just to reiterate what police have told us and say publicly at every crime-prevention meeting we attend – do NOT hesitate to call 911 if you see a crime, or something suspicious, in progress. Possible life-threatening situations are their first priority, police note, so you may not always get instant reponse.

One more Crime Watch report, went by Thomas on Friday, that we didn’t get the chance to share till now:

I wanted to let you know about a break-in that my wife and I just discovered. It happened on 46th between Raymond and Graham [map] sometime between 9:30 and 1:30 [Friday].

As far as we can tell they took a playstation, 3 laptops, about 45 DVDs, 75 CDs and some costume jewelry. No obvious signs of forced entry. The front door was wide open when we got home. Thankfully our cats stayed inside and are safe.

17 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: P-patch pilfering; stolen-car swap..."

  • Dreamland September 1, 2009 (6:30 am)

    It takes a certain version of creep to steal produce. I found this out when I lived in E. Seattle years ago and worked hard to get some tomato plants going. Some jerk came and picked them all JUST when they got ripe and also stole everyone’s hanging flower baskets! I’ve been thinking all summer, what with bumper fruit crops, that this sort of thievery was bound to happen. Makes me angry.

  • yardboy September 1, 2009 (8:50 am)

    Well, it seems this kind of behaviour is everywhere.
    I was out mowing the lawn; I had my truck parked outside. A middle aged asian man and his wife must have thought I was the yard boy or something. They walk 30 feet into my property and start picking the apples off of my apple tree. I ask them what the hell do they think they doing. He says “the owner says its OK.” I tell them I’m the owner and shame on them. Ask first. They smiled and walked off with my apples.

  • Dave September 1, 2009 (10:56 am)

    I hope the SPD cracks the pea patch theft ring! Move it to the top of the list. Who cares if they never find the bastard who ran over my neighbor who was biking down Delridge two weeks back! We must stop these veggie pilferers now. I hope the dust the plants for fingerprints or perhaps they swabbed the stalks for DNA!

  • Koni September 1, 2009 (11:45 am)

    Dave…should we just ignore and not be incensed by the selfish behavior of the pea patch theives? Just wondering…. the hit and run is just a more extreme case of the same selfishness that seems to be thriving in our society. Outrage leads to actions that hopefully will impact the selfish behavior of these people.

  • homesweethome September 1, 2009 (1:13 pm)

    I don’t think anyone would propose ignoring pea patch thefts – but honestly the story left me wondering if whether the folks doing it weren’t just hungry? Do we give anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore? What would anyone do if you were hungry and had to feed your family and maybe didn’t know about community resources available to you? How about a sign at the pea patch directing folks to the food bank?

  • datamuse September 1, 2009 (1:57 pm)

    Once, benefit of the doubt. Twice, questionable. FOUR times, two of those times being told that they were stealing? How exactly is that different from coming into your house and raiding your fridge?

  • Paul in Gatewood September 1, 2009 (3:01 pm)

    Selfish people who keep doing what they’re doing when they’ve been told it’s illegal and wrong are to blame for mistrust in our community. Stealing is stealing. It’s pretty black and white to me.

    Yardboy, your story is amazing, some people really have a lot of nerve. Just reading it made me angry.

  • Koni September 1, 2009 (3:32 pm)

    Paul – thanks for saying just what I was thinking in response to homesweethome ;)

  • Shibaguyz September 1, 2009 (3:43 pm)

    We have given these folks the benefit of the doubt. We did assume they were hungry and they were told about the local food bank in one of the confrontations. Also, there is a sign in the P-Patch directing them to the food bank. They trampled right over it and stole from the plots set aside for food bank donations.

    Maybe the benefit of the doubt should be given to those of us gardening in the P-Patch that we aren’t trivial, heartless meanies who want to target hungry folks and distract the police from “real” crimes.

    Maybe it should also be considered that the work going on in these P-Patches isn’t merely being done by hobby gardeners but by folks who are feeding themselves and their families.

    Thanks for your comments.

  • old timer September 1, 2009 (3:50 pm)

    @ Dave –
    Was it established that the person was in fact ‘run over’?
    What specific leads are the police not following up on?
    In what way is the investigation to proceed so that it will be more productive?
    In the mean time, petty theft is still theft.
    People work for an entire season, tilling earth, planting seed, nurturing crops, only to find their supposed harvest looted by a bunch of low-life, useless eaters.
    And in today’s world, no one can seriously believe that a hungry person has no idea about how to locate a food bank.
    Sorry, there is no excuse for theft.
    They should be punished.

  • Paul in Gatewood September 1, 2009 (4:08 pm)

    Those of you gardening in the P-Patches are doing great things for yourselves and your community. You deserve more than the benefit of the doubt. And the thieves deserve our contempt.

  • miws September 1, 2009 (4:13 pm)

    Now being featured on KOMO 4 News.

    .

    Mike

  • WSB September 1, 2009 (4:25 pm)

    Which one, P-patch pilfering, I’m guessing?

  • miws September 1, 2009 (5:15 pm)

    Oh yeah, TR. Sorry for not clarifying!

    .

    I was actually so involved in reading these comments at the exact time the feature came up, I forgot about the other part to this original story!

    .

    MIke

  • dave September 1, 2009 (10:13 pm)

    My point is this, the police have more important things to do then chase down some dude that steals veggies out of a public garden! I’m not excusing the creeps who do this, but folks they are plants. With the one exception, Yardboy that is blatant and I completely understand where you are coming from. Lastly my neighbor is still in a coma, so folks please keep your eyes out for bikes.

  • Koni September 3, 2009 (1:26 pm)

    Theft is theft Dave. Those plants and produce represent hours of someone’s life that they can not get back. They aren’t just stealing stuff, they are stealing someone’s time on earth too. Clearly it is doubtful that the police are ignoring your friends case.

  • Joni September 15, 2009 (4:27 pm)

    I live near the p-patch between Delridge and 25th and I saw 2 young men going thru the p-patch with grocery bags and filling them with vegetables. I went out to confront them and told them that people work hard on these gardens and they’re stealing from these folks. One of the guys was nice to me and said they were only picking fallen fruit/veggies. I didn’t know what else I could do. He had a tatoo around one eye and they had 2 dogs with backpacks on them. The dogs looked like Blue healer mixes. This same thing happened last year and I guess when times are hard, people will steel food. I reported it last year but they can’t put a fence around them to keep people out. Maybe they need a camera out there.

Sorry, comment time is over.