West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 updates, plus a van to watch for

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Just off the phone with the Southwest Precinct — updates on 3 cases: FIRST — The Freshy’s robbery yesterday (original report here) — police say they know who they’re looking for and at least one suspect should be in custody soon — plus there’s a strong likelihood, as posted in the comments on the Freshy’s report, that the main suspect also was involved in a similar robbery at Cupcake Royale Monday night — “exact same M-O,” police say — ask a question about a bus route, grab a laptop and bolt. At least one witness from Freshy’s knew the suspect’s name; separate from that, regarding the discussion about descriptive factors — light-skinned black male, 17 years old, 6’2″, 190, is what’s on the report. No good description of the other suspect(s). SECOND ITEM: The Admiral rock-throwing suspects, as reported here and here: A second suspect has now been arrested; just one more left to go. (No description but police in this case too say they know exactly who they are after.) THIRD ITEM: Police are putting out two photos of a van linked to a wallet-snatching at South Seattle Community College three weeks ago, hoping it might lead to some tips:

That’s a light blue or gray ’90s Dodge Caravan with tinted windows, used as the getaway vehicle after the robbery at 7 pm January 17. Police say a woman who works in the campus library had just parked her car and was walking to work when a suspect described only as a black man in his 20s asked her for 50 cents. She thought he was a student, so she pulled out her wallet and was going to loan him the money after a promise he would find her in the library and pay her back; he then grabbed her wallet and ran, with four other suspects (no description) suddenly appearing and fleeing with him. (No description of them.) If you have any information on the van, or anything else about this robbery, here’s who to call: Detective Jim Rodgers in the Seattle PD Robbery unit, 262-2515.

k February 6, 2008 (4:10 pm)

thanks for the updates on these cases WSB! it’s nice to know where things stand!

JenV February 6, 2008 (4:26 pm)

now WSB- do you really think you should be posting the color of the van? ;)

JanS February 6, 2008 (5:06 pm)

thanks, WSB…nice to know that the Freshy’s incident was really and incident, whether there are descriptions or not, even better to know that the police actually have an idea who perpetrators are. And thanks for passing on the more detailed description.

Saul February 7, 2008 (10:24 am)

I am actually suprised the police got video from the security people at SSCC. That lot is about next to worthless as far as I am concerned. If you can not afford to park on their precious campus you have to park on the street where your car is very likely to be broken into or stolen (one of the worst places in Seattle for car theft according to the Times). Their security staff is not “responsible” for keeping an eye on the cars on the street right in front of SSCC, that is a “police issue”. Last time I checked most of the cars along that strech of 16th Ave were from the students, how can our safety and the security of our cars NOT be their responsibility?

N.admiral buis.owner February 7, 2008 (11:07 am)

Freshy’s offers this Admiral buisness community comfort food and a cozy atmosphere,to those punks who prey on us. YES, YOU WILL BE FOUND AND PROSICUITED WE ARE A STRONG GROUP OF NEIGHBORS AND BUISNESS OWNERS, BE AWARE, YOU ARE BEING WATCHED AND ACCONTABLE FOR ALL ILLEGALL BEHAVIOR!!!

Catherine February 7, 2008 (11:15 am)

Saul, I understand your frustration and agree with your assessment of the dangers of street-parking in front of the college.

However, *of course* it is not the responsibility of the campus security to patrol a public street. Do you think they should patrol both sides just in front of the college, or up and down the street where students also park? How about all of the side roads around there where students park? Where does that end?

Parking *is* dismal at the college, we both agree on that. I pay for parking, as staff, and every morning have to try to find an actual spot, that I have already paid for, in the staff parking lot. Good luck, because students park in the staff lot as often as staff do – and they get away with it.

There are more students trying to park there than there is student parking, at times. This is not helped by the fact that you can drive into the campus, pay $2 for a daily parking permit, and then park anywhere you can find a spot (including the staff and faculty spots).

As far as getting video access – the police got the video from the victim, who got it from the campus security, so maybe that clears up that mystery. The security staff seemed more than helpful.

Also, while there really isn’t any security stationed out there in the lot, the security guards will walk anyone – staff, faculty, or students – out to their cars at night, if asked. I’ve had them do just this after my collegue was robbed that night.

Saul February 8, 2008 (5:40 am)

Catherine,

Why not? The public safety people at all of the four year universities in Washington have dual responsibility for the streets immediately surrounding their campuses. Why should a community college be any different? Isn’t our being there worth the effort? Or for that matter, why is it the universities get their own police forces and community colleges get only security officers who cannot even arrest people they catch breaking the law? Are we so unimportant to the state because we aren’t at a university that we get the least amount of protection they can get by with?

I appreciate the fact the security staff will walk you to your car at night. But what exactly are they going to do if you are confronted by an armed robber? They are not armed themselves so exactly what kind of an effective deterrent are they supposed to be? More than likely they will be the first ones killed if the situation goes bad. What a comforting thought that must be to them.

And while we are on that subject of bad people on the campus with guns – what exactly are we expecting is going to happen if there is a shooting at SSCC like there was at Virginia Tech? I don’t really see the security staff there doing anything other than standing around while people die. Since the community colleges aren’t allowed to have their own police officers for some stupid reason I fail to see how in this day and age of mass murders taking place on a regular basis anywhere you can possibly imagine why the powers that be at SSCC or any community college think an unarmed security officer makes any of us safe.

They are scarecrows, nothing more and nothing less. Certainly they are not able to keep our cars from being broken into, or a staffer from being robbed on their campus, much less be relied on to stop some nut with a gun bent on killing as many people as he can.

Catherine February 8, 2008 (11:42 am)

” Are we so unimportant to the state because we arenâ€™t at a university that we get the least amount of protection they can get by with? ”
-Saul

The above is an excellant question to take up with the State of Washington (more funding for security at SSCC) and/or the city of Seattle, who’s actual job it is to patrol that area of street.

The rest of your expressed fears and alarms are nothing I can do anything about, and your questions are so clearly rhetorical that I won’t bother, although I believe you have the best at heart. I’m not the one to ask – ask the state or city – They have power to do something about the security. (And good luck with that.)