West Seattle crime watch: Several items of note

(2:35 PM NOTE – even if you read this earlier be sure to scroll down, we have added one more recent report) ORIGINAL POST: First – the broken window at Puerto Vallarta in The Junction remains a mystery, according to the folks we talked to at the restaurant:

They told WSB they just came in one day a few days ago, and it was broken. You’ll recall, nearby Northwest Art & Frame suffered a similar break just after Halloween.

Meanwhile, several things that WSB readers wanted to call to community attention. First, this just out of the inbox within the hour:

Not sure if this is peeper-related (I’m guessing it is), but my husband came home late last night at 1 am (Thursday) and reported police combing the area with dogs at 49th and Charlestown (the location of the last peeper spotting). The search didn’t seem frantic (no chasing) – just like a patrol or something. I can’t find any other details – but thought I would throw it out there to see if you knew anything more.

We also have this report of something that happened last Saturday night:

Last night there was an attempted break-in of our home at 5600 block of 48th Ave SW. We managed to scare him off by turning on light and yelling. He was pushing on door and jiggling handle. He is wise to have left as I was prepared to shoot him upon entry. He had short hair possibly shaven and was wearing a vinyl jacket and jeans. 911 was called and a report was filed. Officer told us a few others had reported a man walking through their yard. Please be on alert.

And from the far south side of West Seattle, another reader who didn’t want to be identified wrote over the weekend (lost amidst the weather coverage, but we are catching up now):

In looking at the blog crime section, I thought it might be worth a post that there may be a trend developing of attempted or successful home break-ins in a several block area around 35th Ave SW and SW 106th Street. I am aware of two that were completed burglaries and one attempted break-in, occurring since mid-September up to a few days ago. Two happened during daylight hours when the occupants were away.

ADDED 2:40 PM: Stephanie originally sent this in last Sunday night and just reminded us (please forgive us) we hadn’t posted it:

I wrote you not more than a few days ago in regards to a car break in of my neighbors. Well, the criminals have gotten greedier. One of the people whose car was broken in to now had their apartment broken in to. The criminals broke a bedroom window and stole some high priced items. This was pretty bold because I was home as was another neighbor and we didn’t hear the glass break.

I find this very troubling because locks don’t seem to be enough. What will it take….. metal bars?????

Grrrr I am so upset for my neighbors and for the community of Delridge. Is there any sort of block watch along Delridge?

As we noted when posting Stephanie’s previous report, she lives north of the Home Depot area. We referred her to the Seattle Police crime-prevention resources including this huge list. And for everyone, our standard caveat: Always report suspicious activity to Seattle Police. Always. Even if it seems like nothing can be done, or nothing is/was done, having the incident(s) on record can help them identify trends, deploy resources, etc. And keep WSB posted on what’s happening in your neighborhood, good as well as bad, so we all can be watching out for each other as much as possible.

18 Replies to "West Seattle crime watch: Several items of note"

  • Chris M December 6, 2007 (1:22 pm)

    Broken link on the list of resources. :(

  • Fauntleroy neighbor December 6, 2007 (1:27 pm)

    About two weeks ago, someone made a brief attempt to break in through my kitchen door. This was during the day while I was at work. I did file a police report so the trend could be tracked, and they said they would step up daytime patrols. I am on the north end of Arbor Heights.

    Thanks for your reporting — there is clearly a trend happening in this area.

  • handmaster December 6, 2007 (1:50 pm)

    i was there when it happened

  • G. Williams December 6, 2007 (2:50 pm)

    List of resources URL: http://seattle.gov/police/prevention/default.htm

  • Marta December 6, 2007 (3:11 pm)

    I was there just after it happened and the guy cleaning up the glass said it was a drunk girl or something, but not a fight or attempted break in. It happened during business hours late last weekend, so I don’t understand why someone there told you they didn’t know what happened. Not much of a mystery, but rather too much alcohol and clumsy feet it sounded like to me…

  • Pierre M December 6, 2007 (3:17 pm)

    That’s apparently the link to the resource page:
    http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/default.htm

  • Christopher Boffoli December 6, 2007 (3:28 pm)

    According to the SPD the uptick in these kids of property crimes is due to criminals looking for a quick bit of cash around the holidays. They say that most residential break-ins happen around 11am.

  • WSB December 6, 2007 (3:54 pm)

    Sorry, we are having that broken link problem a bit more lately, multitasking … will work harder to doublecheck after hitting “update” :) fixing the original link now, thanks to you guys for all pitching in.

  • RS December 6, 2007 (4:20 pm)

    Yeah, I saw that happen too. It was definitely a drunk girl who appeared to throw something at the window and then stomped away and left her companion to talk to the guy who rushed outside to confront them. No mystery involved. Pretty spectacular shatter effect though. Convinced our visiting Capital Hill friends that WS isn’t entirely boring.

  • todd in westwood December 6, 2007 (4:46 pm)

    We had our Subaru broken into AGAIN monday night.(3 times this year!) first time they got my wife’s gym bag, probably thought it was a purse. Next two times the car was parked on 21st and Roxbury in front of our house, they just ransacked the glove box and the center console for spare change. I am kinda pissed, I mean, they can see we have the stock stereo with a cassette player!

  • Jan December 6, 2007 (5:10 pm)

    Stephanie…if there is no block watch, maybe you could start one. Maybe someone on here knows who to talk with to do that. It’s always a good thing…and you get updates every three months where crimes are happening in written form.

    Todd…I’ve had my car gone through a couple of times, and I’m in the Admiral District. Between the two times, they got a non-working car CD player that was in my back seat, and about a buck 95 in change. I was considering a set mouse trap in my glove box..even I’m afraid to go in there – lol…

  • BB December 6, 2007 (8:10 pm)

    Hi All… The P.D. in WS is SUPER responsive to community interest. Drop by the station, explain your issues (and the fact that you want to help). You will have a neighborhood watch in effect ASAP! Really!

  • dksmith December 7, 2007 (12:25 pm)

    My husband and I live on 38th/Dawson, north of the Fairmount playfield. Two weeks ago we came home around 5pm and noticed the side gate to our backyard was open (always closed and hard to open) and the screen on our sliding glass door was pushed open (we NEVER leave that open). We have a strong wooden stick in the sliding glass door and a lock so they couldn’t have gotten in w/o breaking the glass. This would have happened between the hours of 8am – 5pm. Be alert!

  • Robbed in AH December 7, 2007 (12:52 pm)

    I live in one of the houses in Arbor Heights that was broken into. The thieves broke in while my husband and I were at work by breaking the glass window on the side door and letting themselves in. They were pretty bold about it since the neighbors on both side were home at the time and we live right on 35th so there is a fair amount of street traffic. Based on what neighbors told us they broke into our house before 10am. We were a pretty easy target since we leave for work when it is dark out and we turn all the lights off in the house. We also take both of our cars so the driveway is empty. It pretty much screamed “No One Is Home!” Thankfully, no one was hurt, our cat came back after escaping out the side door that was left open and the damage they did was minimal beyond stealing all of our electronics.
    I’m not sure what you can learn from us other than to get an alarm system and/or a dog with a loud bark and get to know your neighbors.

  • Meg December 7, 2007 (3:09 pm)

    Not sure if this is relevant or not, but after reading all of this i thinki will at least make a police report. I live down on Beach Drive near the Me-Kwa-Mooks Park and between 6:30 & 8:30 am there has been a dark green, late 90’s style minivan parked there. Every single day which i find odd. I had written down the license plate number and put it in a safe place at my house as well as activated our alarm systen. Kind of scary taht all of these things are happening around here…

  • GenHillOne December 7, 2007 (6:04 pm)

    Meg, could very well be someone living in the van looking for a place to park for the night.

  • Meg December 10, 2007 (9:12 am)

    I have seen many different cars with people sleeping in them over night. however, in this instance the car arrives at 6:30 am it is not that the car was there all night…i just find it very odd, but who knows you could be right.

  • Marty December 10, 2007 (9:01 pm)

    I am the person with the original post regarding Arbor Heights. None of the incidents described here are the three I was aware of when I passed along this alert. In the ones I know about, they also went to backyards that were easy to access (no gates or left unlocked), entered by breaking glass in either a lower rear window or door, occurred in neighborhoods where most people are working during the day. Thanks for your comments.

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