Among the latest police reports filed at the Southwest Precinct, here are some of the most notable: In the 4500 block of 56th SW, at least four vehicles were broken into Sunday night-Monday morning. An SUV owner told police that a window was smashed and a GPS was taken; another owner said someone got into three of his vehicles, breaking the window of a truck and stealing a camera and gas card, then looking through the 2 other vehicles without damaging or stealing anything. More ahead:

THE REMORSEFUL VANDAL: Police officers patroling The Junction late Friday night-early Saturday morning had some interesting encounters, to say the least. Here’s one: Just after 11:30 pm Friday, officers saw two men walk out of a restaurant-bar on the south end of The Junction and head east up Edmunds. They stopped at the mural on the side of Kathy’s School of Dance, where the officer saw one of the men take something out of his pocket and start drawing on the mural. As police got ready to move in to stop them, a passerby remarked, “Is that guy dumb enough to be tagging right in front of you?” (Actually, it turns out, he was drawing an obscenely rendered body part on part of the mural.) And if you think all taggers/graffiti vandals are teens – you should know, in this case, the suspect is 41. He and the other man with him, 36, both were stopped quickly. The confessed vandal told police he felt “really stupid” because he’s an artist and didn’t like the idea of damaging somebody else’s work. The police report says he was considering getting in touch with the studio owner to fix the damage he did.

ALSO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING IN THE JUNCTION: Police on a “foot beat” were flagged down by a security worker for Talarico’s, who told them he had been attacked. It apparently began when a man was asked to leave the lounge/restaurant because he was trying to start fights with other customers. As the security worker escorted him to the door and then prepared to head back inside, witnesses say, the booted patron picked up a sandwich board and smacked the security worker in the back of the head. The worker in turn fired self-defense aerosol at his attacker, who nonetheless got away. One more incident early Saturday morning in The Junction — officers on walking patrol separated three men who were about to get into a physical fight in the 4700 block of California.

STEALING ALCOHOL, IN AN UNEXPECTED FORM: A manager at Metropolitan Market called police just after 1 o’clock this morning, after detaining a suspected shoplifter. The market says it’s familiar with the suspect, a 44-year-old West Seattle man, because he has tried to steal vanilla extract before — and the police report says that’s what was going on this time, the attempted theft of two $25 bottles of vanilla. Why vanilla, he was asked? Reply: He’s going through alcohol withdrawal and “vanilla has as much alcohol as whiskey.”

OVERHEATED SHOPLIFTING: Police say a 43-year-old Monroe man was caught trying to shoplift two $139 heaters from Home Depot on Delridge. Officers discovered that not only had the man been told to stay out of all Home Depots because of previous incidents, he also had a warrant out for his arrest in a drug case.

“IF YOU FIND ANYTHING, IT’S NOT MINE”: That’s what a suspect is reported to have told the police officers who got a warrant to search his car after stopping him at quarter past 2 this morning at Ambaum/SW 136th. They say the man was speeding and then crossed the center line; they first discovered he was driving with a suspended license, and then learned he was known for previous drug cases, though he insisted to them that he doesn’t drink or use drugs. They brought in Jetson, a narcotics-detecting dog working with the King County Sheriff’s Office, and Jetson seemed pretty sure he detected something in the car. So officers got a search warrant and then found in the car what’s believed to be 23 grams of rock cocaine as well as two joints of marijuana.

THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR: A helpful friend helped police rush to the rescue of a woman who was being attacked by her ex-boyfriend after 9 o’clock last night in the 9000 block of 17th SW. The victim called her friend to say she thought someone was trying to break into her house; she put the phone down during the call and then was attacked by the ex-boyfriend, who beat and dragged her. Meantime the friend called 911. The attacker got away before officers arrived.

BIG BANG: Police called in the arson/bomb unit to investigate early yesterday morning after what was first reported as gunshots turned out to have been the sound of a “grenade simulator” blowing up in the 3700 block of SW 106th.

HAWKS WON, GAME-GOER LOST: A man who lives in the 3200 block of 46th SW told police someone broke into his house through a basement window while he was at the Seahawks game all day. It didn’t appear that the burglar stole anything, though “dirty footprints” were left behind.

ANOTHER BASEMENT WINDOW BREAK-IN: Sometime between 6:45 am and 5 pm last Friday, someone threw a brick through the basement window of a house in the 5600 block of Fauntleroy, ransacked the house, and got away with knives and money.

ANTI-THEFT DEVICE HELPS BURGLAR(S) STEAL COMPUTERS: A woman called police after the sound of breaking glass woke her up around 5:30 Saturday morning. Officers found a red anti-car-theft “Club” device that they believe was used to smash a kitchen window. The victim says two laptops are missing.

ANOTHER KITCHEN WINDOW BREAK-IN: In the 3800 block of 42nd SW, 2 people came home Sunday afternoon, after about four hours away from home, to discover someone had forced their kitchen window open, apparently with a claw hammer. “Several items” were taken, according to the police report, which says the claw hammer was found too, and tested for fingerprints.

BROKEN WINDOW BUT MAYBE NO BURGLARY: A man who lives in the 8800 block of 28th SW says someone broke a window in the back of the house between 11 am and 9:40 pm last Friday, but it didn’t appear they’d gone into the house, and nothing was missing.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS STOLEN FROM UNLOCKED GARAGE: This happened in the 7700 block of 31st SW, and the victim says it happened sometime between December 16th and last Friday. Someone went into his unlocked garage and stole a black athletic bag that contained prescription drugs; a neighbor found the bag, empty, nearby.

FOUND ITEMS: Jewelry including a locket, 5 earrings, and 2 rings turned up at a bus stop in the 7700 block of Delridge; a US passport was found at Riverview Playfield.

As we always remind you – don’t hesitate to call police when you see or hear something suspicious, and of course when you believe a crime has been (or is being) committed. In addition to 911, there’s a non-emergency line at 206/625-5011. A big collection of Seattle Police crime-prevention resources is available online here. And previous WSB police-report coverage is archived on our Crime Watch page.