West Seattle Crime Watch: New burglary string reported

These two notes appear to add up to three burglaries – we will check with the Southwest Precinct first thing in the morning. In the meantime, wanted to get out the word. First, just in from Karen, who’s a Block Watch Captain in her area:

I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area, the 5000 block of 37th SW, this evening. I believe that it occurred between 6 & 8 PM. We have also heard that there was a second break-in just one block south in the 5200 block of 37th.

The owners of the house in the 5000 block reported that their door was kicked in and the house was completely ransacked. A lot was taken, including jewelry and electronics. Also, two of their indoor cats were let out/escaped but have fortunately now been found.

This one came in a short time earlier from KP (and we were about to post it when Karen’s note came in):

I live on 37th Avenue SW and SW Brandon. I just talked with a neighbor on the 5200 block of 37th Ave SW who was burglarized today. She stated the whole house was tossed and they stole a TV, jewelry and a laptop. She said a house on the 5400 block had been broken into yesterday.

This area is southwest of The Mount, northeast of Fairmount Playfield. Here’s a map.

9 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: New burglary string reported"

  • Aim April 1, 2008 (10:57 pm)

    Maybe Detective Bauer and the others on his unit know if someone was recently bailed out after the arrests the last couple of weeks.

    The MO in these ones as well as Megan’s sound an awful lot like ours from last year – which happened on a snow day from school. I find it interesting that now it’s spring break and we’ve got a spike again.

  • Paul April 2, 2008 (7:59 am)

    These do sound like they could be the same person. Question, I know that there are several meetings about how to make your home safer, but I always have a conflict. Is there anything a person can download or better yet, is there something that can be posted on the blog? I am very currious to see what is being presented at the community meetings. I recently installed an alarm system, but I want to make sure I am not missing anything.

  • beachdrivegirl April 2, 2008 (8:03 am)

    That is a little convenient with “kids” being out. I know last year on a snow day someone decided to break out all of the windows in the cars along the street. It was so lovely, that they chose not to break just one, but all windows, in all cars along the street..rummage through everything but not steal a thing. You got to love these people who find it fun to destroy property and ransack peoples homes. And on a side note…if anyone is interested in starting a block watch community in the 4000 block of Beach Drive/Childberg area please contact me! mallen@pacificoffice.com. I tried to get one started this past summer/early fall but got no response and would still be open to it!

  • zzsz April 2, 2008 (9:38 am)

    All in broad daylight. Surprising that nobody noticed. Plus what if someone was home when they kicked in the door?

    I’m thinking of hooking up a webcam on the top floor of my house to watch our home and neighborhood (Luna Park area).

    This after the hit and run of two of our cars and the fact that burglars are on the prowl. I would LOVE to catch one of these individuals in the act on video.

  • anon on 37th April 2, 2008 (12:31 pm)

    zzsz –
    “Plus what if someone is home when they kicked in the door?” – we have a gun and a cell phone.

    Paul –
    I used to run these trainings for my job before being a stay-at-home-Mom. Here are some basics: Lot’s of it is common sense (pay attention, neighborhood watches, don’t be afraid to trust your gut, call 911, leave blinds closed, lock your doors, vary your times, leave lights on / off, make the house look occupied) but some things are more subtle. For example – the chances of being robbed a second time is much greater in the following weeks and many people will be revictimized. Most thieves know that your insurance pay out will mean you buy back a new TV – making your house a “new TV” easy hit. So setting up videos or other creative fixes and fixing the point of entry is a must.

    The biggest prevention tactic we have is our eyes and helping out our neighbors.

    If you are robbed many police officers will come do a “safety check” of your home to help you identify prevention tactics. I don’t know if they offer that service here (where I worked was in a different state) but it might be something to look into.

  • Michelle April 2, 2008 (6:55 pm)

    There was an attempted burglary on Monday on my block – 8800 block of 18th. My neighbors came home while someone was trying to pry open their sliding glass door in the early afternoon. Luckily they weren’t already in the house when my neighbors returned; their young daughter is the one that saw them and scared them away. We had an emergency block watch meeting last night to discuss the incident and what else we could do. It was suggested that we band together with other block watch groups in our neighborhood to post a more united front and also to share when incidents occur so everyone knows what to watch out for. Does anyone know if there’s a list of all the active block watches with contact information for the captains so we can create a mega-blockwatch?

  • Aim April 2, 2008 (9:21 pm)

    Michelle, I live about 2 blocks from you and am VERY interested in getting involved. We have other neighbors who may be interested as well.

  • sk8r May 20, 2008 (2:52 pm)

    Same thing happened close by my place about 2 blocks away at 2300 block of 37th a house got broken into about 3 times in the past 2 weeks

  • sk8r May 21, 2008 (1:01 am)

    I found out why he got robbed. The crooks found out that it was his summer place and he only came by about twice a month to check on the place. Plus he didnt even have an alarm system and only had a screen for a back door. The crooks got away the first time with some laptops and some small furniture. But the second time the 3 14 year olds were caught and the police found out that they had a woman on the other side of town ready to pick some stuff up after the robbery. Funny thing is that he didnt have the alarm system installed untill after the second breakin, and the crooks proved the myth wrong that says that crooks wont strike a joint in broad daylight and the myth that crooks never strike twice at the same joint

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