West Seattle Crime Watch: Burglarized while asleep, and more

2 West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share – starting with a home burglarized while its residents were asleep. We got this one thirdhand, so we checked with the Southwest Precinct, where Lt. Steve Paulsen confirmed the details: The house in the 5200 block of 35th SW (map) was broken into Tuesday night. The burglar(s) broke a basement window to get in; police say the items stolen included a camera, laptop, purse, credit card, and calling card. And one unusual detail: The burglar(s) tried to disable the home phone by jamming a button. One more case ahead – call it a backyard break-in:

This report is from a Morgan Junction resident who wanted to be anonymous but wanted to give others a heads-up:

Last night someone took out a fence board and disabled a lock on my boyfriend’s fence to gain access to his backyard (he lives near 35th and Morgan [map]).

Two weeks ago on Oct 30th a neighbor saw a kid jump my boyfriend’s fence from the alley side around 7pm at night. When confronted, the kid said he lost a soccer ball in the yard and went to retrieve it. Now we think the kid had been casing out the yard because someone would have to know which board to pull off the fence in order to gain access to the lock inside the fence.

An officer came to the house to take a report and mentioned only a few blocks away there was a burglary last night too, and the owner had only been gone an hour to make a trip to Home Depot. My boyfriend himself was only gone for 4 hours when the break in happened. Thankfully nothing appeared taken, but we are worried they will make a third attempt.

These invasions seem planned and as though the culprits are watching the houses closely. We want our neighbors to know what is going on and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.

One more burglary report – check out this WSB Forums post about a Seaview break-in. Meantime, to get the latest crime trends firsthand, and to get questions answered by local police leadership, the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets next week – Tuesday, Nov. 17, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct meeting room.

too much November 12, 2009 (8:53 pm)

Oh boy here we go. When I lived on Cap. Hill in the 80s there was as string of entry at night burglars. Very creepy. This is why I have my alarm set to go off if they take one foot on the basement stairs. And if that doesn’t work they will encounter a locked door to the main level. And if that doesn’t work my huge dog will finish them off.

coffee November 12, 2009 (10:50 pm)

Motion detector lights outside work great too. There are some great electric companies that install these quick and in many cases they are not too expensive either.

wsgal November 15, 2009 (12:40 am)

FYI, correct link for West Seattle Crime Prevention Council is:
http://www.wscpc.org/

tincanrocket December 5, 2009 (12:05 am)

I second the motion detector lights. They even make little do-it-yourself modules at home depot (or similar stores) that allow you to convert regular spot lights to motion detector lights. My dogs are trained to react to the light going on. Works quite well and I suspect burglars would rather move onto an easier target.

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