Crime Watch reader report: Cars vandalized

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Deanna:

I live in the townhouses right next to the old Fairmount Elementary School (next to the baseball fields) and my car was vandalized sometime early Saturday morning (between 12 am and 8 am). These little f***ers for fun just ripped off my passenger side mirror and threw it into the street to get smashed. Good times! Also, they bent my neighbor’s antenna on her car so that it will no longer go up and down as her car starts.

Just thought you might want to know. Not that the police did anything other than take the report over the phone. But I hear kids out here all the time behind the abandoned school, and I think itâ€™s time we start calling this stuff in and make them do something.

As we mentioned in e-mail back to Deanna, filing reports – no matter how small the vandalism, or theft, or other “property crime” seems to be – is really important, because tracking trends helps police determine how to deploy patrol resources, and which areas they need to keep a closer eye on. The nonemergency number is 206-625-5011.

confused July 15, 2008 (7:01 am)

“Also, they bent my neighborâ€™s antenna on her car so that it will no longer go up and down as her car starts.”

Was the car running at the time? If not, how could they bend the antenna if it goes up and down?

RobertSeattle July 15, 2008 (7:10 am)

Slightly OT, but are we ever going to get “311” for non emergency #s? 625-5011 isn’t exactly easy to remember.

WSB July 15, 2008 (7:21 am)

Quick research took me to this page:
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/customerService/311.htm
The mayor proposed 311 as a non-emergency city number for EVERYTHING (the first link on that page is a presentation with examples). The council wanted to study it first instead of approving a proposal last fall. Final approval for said “study” came in March. Where it stands – that, I’d have to find out.

TeresaP July 15, 2008 (7:41 am)

I say forget calling the cops, sit under a bush and when the little f**kers come back you scare the living crap out of them with a large baseball bat in your hand and a crazed look in your eye.

Jeanette July 15, 2008 (8:11 am)

I live in the alley behind Fairmont Park Elementary School. In the year that it has been closed, it has become a magnet for drug use, underage drinking, sex and vandalism. Earlier this year my house got spray painted with the same tag these kids are using on the school. I have called and made multiple reports to the police, and I’ve called 911 each time I’ve seen drug use and underage drinking. Each time the 911 operator says that she will “send someone out.” I’ve NEVER seen an officer respond. What a great deal for these kids: a place to drink, do drugs, have sex and destroy property, all in a place where they know that the cops will leave them alone! What a deal!

RobertSeattle July 15, 2008 (8:55 am)

Looks like lots of “big” cities already have 311:
http://www.911dispatch.com/info/311map.html

Hey Seattle: More Action, less study. :-)

Resonse from Seattle: OK, we’ll study your idea…

Moose Jaw July 15, 2008 (9:32 am)

Not only do the police rarely show, but the City took out the alley’s street light.

I’m constantly picking up beer bottles and trash back there and have had enough. Starting today, that trash is going to be showing up on the Mayor’s lawn.

Fairmont Alley Resident July 15, 2008 (10:40 am)

I also live here, and my bedroom window looks directly at the staircase along the north end of the school behind the basketball court. I am constantly hearing and seeing teenagers partying, drinking and smoking pot, and there is also a LOT of in and out car traffic doing what appear to be drug deals (usually blaring their stereo bass at inappropriate hours).
Also, the alley street light that is no longer working was put in privately by my landlord about fifteen years ago- the city didn’t initiate or maintain it.
I could easily call the police about this every single night, and I guess that’s what I’ll start doing. They need to be driving through regularly.

OP July 15, 2008 (11:38 am)

Deanna,

Seeing as how I live near you, and if I’m thinking about the right townhouses where you say you live, I would have A LOT of suspicions about some recent late-teen oriented mayhem occurring at a certain house on the “short-side” of Findlay there. Keep in mind, too, it’s also summer and there a lot of kids with nothing better to do.

And F.A.R and Deanna, WSB is right; don’t hesitate to call the non-emergency number. The less little up-to-no-good trolls we have living in our midst, the better.

GenHillOne July 15, 2008 (12:07 pm)

I know it might be hard, Moose Jaw, but how about a little tough love on that alley for awhile. Resist the temptation to clean up and take pictures instead. Give those to the police as well to support the complaints.

BobLoblaw July 15, 2008 (1:31 pm)

OP: Lots of rumors about that particular house. Not going to spread them here, but it’s safe to say “activity” has increased during the warmer weather. One of the reasons our kids don’t play outside without supervision.
.
Why police don’t cruise by more often is anybody’s guess. I know they are stretched thin. But this house is easily spotted from the Fauntleroy Freeway, and wouldn’t take much to keep an eye on it.
.

OP July 15, 2008 (4:15 pm)

BobLoblaw: I’m not surprised at all by any possible rumors swirling around that place. Might be a time for some of us who live around there to start filing a few complaints with the non-emergency number. In the meantime, I’ll just keep wishing I had my own I had my own M1 Abrams tank and a spare round to fire…

barb July 15, 2008 (4:28 pm)

I used to live on the main entrance side of the school and the only time I EVER saw the cops over there was when there was actually a car on fire in the middle of the night in the parking lot of the school.