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West Seattle Crime Watch: Aggressive car prowler alert
April 15, 2008 4:50 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

This time, the alert comes straight from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ Southwest Precinct, who asked that we share this with you:

(Starting with the recent spring vacations), the Harbor Ave SW area has been inundated with carprowls … The suspects are bold and aggressive. They will wait for vehicles to park, then once the owner leaves they commit their crime. The suspects are prowling cars parked on the street and local businesses. We are working this issue aggressively with patrols and followup work from our detectives. We hope to get some success out of this. Citizens need to be reminded to keep valuables out of cars, particularly laptops.

We’d second that one, having seen countless cases of car break-ins where laptops, iPods, and GPS systems were the loot. 9:07 PM UPDATE: Just back from the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting, where we learned more about this — Officer Brian Ballew said last night alone, there were about half a dozen in the Salty’s vicinity during a 2-hour period; there’s surveillance video showing possible suspects so that’s being reviewed now.

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1st day in the office for Southwest Precinct Capt. Joe Kessler
April 9, 2008 2:16 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle people | West Seattle police

kesslerflash.jpg

This afternoon we got the chance to spend a few minutes talking with the new leader of West Seattle’s police force (they handle South Park too), Southwest Precinct Capt. Joe Kessler. This was his first official day in the office at the precinct (which is just east of Home Depot). He says he’s thrilled to be working in West Seattle because of strong community involvement — and he considers community participation in info-sharing here at WSB to be part of that. When it was clear some of the department’s top leaders would be moving around this year (we first reported the moves in late February), Capt. Kessler says the Southwest Precinct was his top choice. He says he’s worked before with many people who are based at the SWP, so they’ve already got a good working relationship to start with. As he gets settled in, we’ll be talking with him more about his plans for leading the team that’s working — with your help — to keep West Seattle safe. (Capt. Kessler’s predecessor in the SWP’s top role, Capt. Mike Fann, is now running the Traffic Unit.)

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New captain in charge @ Southwest Precinct
April 2, 2008 2:50 pm
|    Comments Off on New captain in charge @ Southwest Precinct
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle people | West Seattle police

kessler.jpgWe told you in late February about the impending transition, and now it’s happened. After almost 3 years, Captain Mike Fann has left the Southwest Precinct and is now in charge of the Traffic Division, and Captain Joe Kessler (left) is now in charge of the SWP. His bio is now on the precinct website too; read it here.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: New burglary string reported
April 1, 2008 10:28 pm
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

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.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Officers fight off attackers
March 31, 2008 4:11 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

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Thanks to Scott for that photo of a sizable police/fire response early this morning in the 6000 block of California. In case you heard the sirens too, here’s the word on what happened, from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ the Southwest Precinct: Police were called about a fight in the street involving two men (Scott says there was plenty of shouting even before law enforcement arrived); when officers intervened, they themselves were attacked, and had to use a Taser to get one suspect under control.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Still fairly quiet
March 26, 2008 10:08 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

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First, a photo – this one from Mac, who asked this Seattle Police traffic officer for permission to take his picture – he obliged, then wished Mac a “good day” before zooming off to write a ticket. Not too much else happening in police-land according to our most recent review of reports at the Southwest Precinct:Read More

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WSB sponsor gets a national spotlight
March 19, 2008 10:36 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle online | West Seattle police

She didn’t point this out to us – WSB’er JT did – but WSB sponsor Rhonda Porter, who writes The Mortgage Porter, is quoted in an article from tomorrow’s New York Times. As we had just explained to somebody earlier today, we don’t put up a lot of West Seattle-related newspaper links here on the home page unless there’s something extraordinary about them, since that’s what the More page is for, but getting quoted in the NYT is a big deal in our book!

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West Seattle Crime Watch: 3-part update
March 18, 2008 11:59 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Going to get this all out in one long 3-part report: First, details on an incident last night that several people e-mailed us about today. Second, news from tonight’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting. Third, the police reports we reviewed at the Southwest Precinct yesterday afternoon but never got around to posting before all sorts of other news (missing girl found, etc.) started breaking. All ahead:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch updates: Arrest details; another break-in
March 18, 2008 2:52 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle online | West Seattle police

Just got details from the Southwest Precinct on three of the arrests reported late Friday: Three people were arrested in connection with a break-in Friday in the 5400 block of 31st SW – because less than an hour later, police say, they were in Seatac trying to cash a check stolen during the burglary. Detectives say there’s a good chance these suspects are linked to additional burglaries, for reasons including the fact the loot found in their vehicle included more than the items reported stolen in the break-in on 31st. Meantime, just after getting the call with those details, we got a reader report about an apparently unrelated burglary yesterday:Read More

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Concerned about crime? Here’s the place to be tonight
March 18, 2008 12:42 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

The Southwest Precinct team always has a major show of force at the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meetings — with crime updates, crimefighting tips, and more — plus the WSCSP leaders have plenty of updates on community concerns. We’ll have a report, of course, but that’s no substitute for being there yourself and asking questions about what you and your neighbors specifically want to know – it’s a casual meeting and there’s always plenty of chances to have your say. 7 pm tonight, Southwest Precinct meeting room (map) — with special guests tonight from the Parking Enforcement division!

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West Seattle Crime Watch: More burglary suspects nabbed
March 17, 2008 5:41 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Besides the missing 14-year-old being found safe and sound (see below), this is the other big news we found out about while at the Southwest Precinct this afternoon: handcuffs_2.jpgThree suspects are under arrest for investigation of charges including burglary after a wild scene that began with a break-in in the 4500 block of SW Austin (map) – not too far from the general Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy area that’s been the scene of quite a few daytime burglaries in the past week-plus. Even before seeing the report, we heard about this when 2 of the burglary victims came to the precinct while we were there, to pick up some of the recovered loot. Stand by – we’ll add full details here as soon as we write them up. 6:07 PM UPDATE: That update’s going to take a bit longer than we hoped because we just got even more info from police – bottom line is that there have been three general “patterns” of burglaries in West Seattle lately and police believe they’ve made significant progress in two of them, with some key leads in the third. ADDED 6:50 PM: OK, here are full details and the “big picture”:Read More

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Breaking news: 14-year-old Jordan King found safe
March 17, 2008 5:02 pm
|      19 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle police | WS breaking news

This just e-mailed to WSB from the Southwest Precinct.

The missing 14 year old autistic female was located 5 minutes ago when the librarian from the White Center Library 11220 16th Avenue SW recognized the missing juvenile from the photo from the westseattleblog. The juvenile has been recovered safe and sound.

5:12 PM ADDITION: That update came in via e-mail (and Patrick posted it) while your editor here was elsewhere at the SWP going through reports – there’s more big news today that we will post about shortly – an officer had just mentioned to us moments earlier that they were checking out their “second possible Jordan King sighting today” at a library, after an earlier report closer to her Admiral home didn’t pan out. Hooray for the eagle-eyed reader who recognized her from the photo, and we’re happy for the family who did a thorough job getting the word out. We had just actually seen the original report while at the precinct – Jordan had been gone (original coverage here) since about 1:45 pm last Friday, three long days ago.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Burglary suspects nabbed
March 14, 2008 7:00 pm
|      14 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

This just in at day’s end from Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen:

Given the recent string of residential burglaries in West Seattle….Just wanted you to know we caught some today … Detectives are gleaning info from them in order to tie them to other burglaries. We have one very pleased victim at our precinct right now identifying his property! We also developed some good leads on the Beach Drive/Alki burglaries (different suspect(s))

No further details yet; we’ll let you know anything else we find out.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Citizen crimesolver, and more
March 11, 2008 11:30 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Now the rest of the latest report highlights from the Southwest Precinct (which also included the vignette we posted earlier): We start with a suspected teenage drug dealer, spotted on local school grounds by a watchful school employee. handcuffs_2.jpgHe called police to say he saw what looked like 3 boys engaged in drug transactions right by West Seattle Elementary in High Point – atop the stairs connecting the campus with the nearby community center. With the detailed descriptions he provided, police stopped two suspects at 30th and Othello. While patting them down, an officer detected an odd crackling sound near one boy’s ankle; “that’s just cough drops,” the boy insisted — till the officer pulled out a cellophane cough-drop bag containing marijuana “packaged for sale.” The boy, 15, also had $120 in cash kept separately from a few dollars walking-around money (the police report notes it is typical dealer behavior both to separate cash that way and to keep the merchandise in an unusual spot like, your shoes/socks). He was arrested. Next: The case of the thirsty burglar(s), among other incidents:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Alki window culprit(s) update; more
March 7, 2008 8:14 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

From the reports at the Southwest Precinct: Remember the car-window shooting on 61st SW reported by Mark two days ago? handcuffs_2.jpgA day later — yesterday around 3:30 pm — a passerby spotted “two juveniles” on the roof of a house in the same area, 3000 block of 61st SW, with suspected pellet/airsoft handguns. One of them was believed to be a 15-year-old boy who lives in that same house, but nobody was home when police arrived minutes later; no arrest yet but it’s a high-priority case. Now, the rest of the stories, including a drunken teen on the run, and stolen donations at a local school:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch: School-zone patrol progress
March 4, 2008 3:41 pm
|      16 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Gatewood | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

From the Southwest Precinct Public Safety Newsletter just sent out by SWP Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow – don’t miss the last paragraph:

The T9 Traffic Squad focuses on aggressive drivers. They drive the Dodge Charger Police cars. The T9 Squad, along with other members of the Traffic Section, issued the following school zone citations between September 01, 2007 through February 11, 2008:

* Arbor Heights – total – 94

65 Speed, 1 Pass School Bus, 28 other –

* Highland Park – total – -540

363 Speed, 4 Pass School Bus, 1 R/W Ped, 172 other

* Holy Family – total – 245

189 Speed, 1 Pass School Bus, 55 other

* Sanislo – total – 56

47 Speed, 9 other –

* Total – 935

Last week the T9 Squad started working the school zone at Gatewood Elementary in 7000 block of Fauntleroy. Yesterday Officer Cavin stopped a driver traveling 45 mph while using the center turn lane to pass 6 other cars in the 20 mph school zone. The driver said he was late getting to the Ferry Terminal. He was cited for Reckless Driving.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Latest report roundup
February 28, 2008 7:42 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Postponed from last night: the latest reports from the Southwest Precinct:Read More

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About the Westwood pit-bull case, and dogs on the loose
February 28, 2008 5:32 pm
|      135 COMMENTS
 |   Pets | West Seattle news | West Seattle police | Westwood

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That’s a photo sent to WSB by a man who lives in the Westwood neighborhood where police shot two dogs, described as pit bulls, night before last. (Original WSB report here.) The neighbor believes those are the same dogs – even if not, he says there’s a dog problem — irresponsible owner problem, maybe more like it — in his neighborhood: “I have called Animal Control AND Police on these dogs NUMEROUS times. I have photos attached of the dogs hunting/stalking during the day right in a neighborhood where children play outside all day and walk to and from school. … I have many, many photos of these and other loose dogs stalking my neighborhood day and night.” On the night of the police/dogs confrontation, we heard scanner traffic indicating a history of previous trouble with the dogs that police shot. Now we’ve seen the full police writeup of what happened Tuesday night, and thought you might be interested in additional details:Read More

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Change at the top at the Southwest Precinct
February 28, 2008 9:52 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle police

fann.jpgBefore we post an overdue Crime Watch roundup plus a followup on the Westwood pit-bull-shooting case from the other night, we have news about the Southwest Precinct itself: As part of a leadership reorganization involving several precincts and divisions within the Seattle Police Department, Chief Gil Kerlikowske is moving the SWP’s commander, Captain Mike Fann (official SPD photo @ left), to lead the Traffic Unit, and moving Captain Joe Kessler to head up the SWP. Capt. Fann has led the West Seattle-based precinct for almost three years. (P.S. The semi-nearby South Precinct is also getting a new commander, Captain Les Liggins.)

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Crime Watch reader report: Police chase burglar
February 27, 2008 10:02 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Out of the WSB inbox, from Trissa:

Just wanted to let you know that someone tried to break into a house on the 4000 block of 23rd Ave SW tonight at 8:00 pm. There was a lot of police activity and they brought dogs to try and catch the person or persons. So a thank you to our police and hopefully they will catch the person(s)!

Side note, we were at the Southwest Precinct reviewing police reports, including last night’s pit-bull shooting incident, just before going to the school-board meeting, and will be writing that all up after the Denny-Sealth wrapup report.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Shot dog; ferry rage; phone scam
February 25, 2008 11:32 pm
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

From the files at the Southwest Precinct: A dog is believed to have been shot by its owner’s drunk, enraged boyfriend. handcuffs_2.jpgThis all played out in the 5600 block of Delridge last Thursday night. Police were called after a woman was heard screaming, “He shot my dog!” They found the woman’s 45-year-old boyfriend holding a .357 handgun, which he promptly dropped when ordered to. She told officers they were arguing when he pulled the gun from his pocket, fired a shot into the ceiling, then shot the dog; she fled the apartment and the dog bolted too. Officers found a trail of blood but no sign of the dog; they also found a significant criminal record for the boyfriend, who admitted firing the gun into the ceiling and shooting at the dog, a pit bull that he described as “vicious.” He also told police, “I was drinking Mad Dog 20-20 and it affects me fast; I drank too fast.” He was taken to jail. NEXT: Ferry rage, bridge rage, phone scam, break-ins, and more:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Dog bites kid; fare beats cabbie
February 20, 2008 11:13 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

handcuffs_2.jpgFrom the latest reports filed at the Southwest Precinct: A nine-year-old girl had to be rushed to Harborview Medical Center yesterday afternoon after a dog bit her in the face. It happened in the 7900 block of Delridge around quarter past 1; the dog’s owner wasn’t around when it happened, but the girl’s parents were. The report describes the dog as a 3-year-old pit bull named “Cain” and says it was taken away by Animal Control, along with another dog found at the location. Next, the cabbie attack:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch: 84-year-old woman saved
February 15, 2008 11:02 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Topping our latest review of reports from the Southwest Precinct, quick-thinking workers and fast-responding officers saved the life of an 84-year-old woman at the Daystar center across from Westwood Village. It happened at 2:44 am Thursday morning; the woman’s 46-year-old granddaughter showed up to see her, and things took a terrifying turn very fast. Daystar employees heard screams and called 911. handcuffs_2.jpgOfficers say they found the granddaughter holding her grandmother down on a bed with one hand while the other was raised high above her head, holding a claw hammer. They demanded – at gunpoint – that the woman drop the hammer; she didn’t, but she did lower it to her side. They told her again to drop it; though she still didn’t, they managed to get it away from her and arrest her without having to use potentially deadly force. The victim is quoted as telling police afterward, “She was going to kill me — I begged her not to do it — I could tell she wanted to kill me … I thought I was going to die, I didn’t think anyone would help me, I didn’t think you could get here in time.” The suspect has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, and admitted to police she had imbibed a “large quantity of Everclear” that night. She also has a heart problem and had to be taken to the hospital; she was booked into jail later that morning and is still there at this writing, facing possible charges of assault and harassment. Next: Yet another car prowl …Read More

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