Crime Watch reader report: “Have you seen my car?”

| Crime | Pigeon Point | West Seattle news

Diane sent this, with that plaintive plea in the subject line:

On Sunday, July 27 someone decided they needed to remove my sixteen-year-old Acura Vigor from my driveway in Pigeon Point. I am hoping that it is sitting in your neighborhood taking up space. It is black with a spoiler on the back with a good-looking outside and a well-worn inside. The license plate number is 861RMX. If you have seen it, I would love to bring it home.

Side notes: According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Seattle’s auto-theft rate is #16 in the nation, with more than 24,000 vehicles stolen last year. The police department has an auto-theft-prevention webpage here, and crime stats by census tract (including car-theft breakouts) on an interactive map here.

wsblover August 6, 2008 (9:56 am)

Sorry this happened to you. You did a good thing by alerting us of the theft but most importantly, giving us a description of your vehicle. Unless something has changed, the police/parking enforcement will ticket cars reported stolen because there is no sharing of the information between the databases. The recovery rate could be improved and peoples lives made so much easier if there was some simple data sharing within the same department.

wsblover August 6, 2008 (9:58 am)

In other words, you are more likely to get your car back by letting us know your plate number than waiting for the police to find it.

old timer August 6, 2008 (10:07 am)

After my truck was stolen, I asked a meter-patrolman – if my stolen truck was parked illegally, would the ticketing process generate a notice to the person writing the ticket of that information?
He told me “Yes, we’d know it was a stolen car, and we would have it towed and the owner would be notified of the recovery”.
Unfortunately, it’s been over two years, and I’ve long since given up on ever finding my truck.
I guess it was parted out before it had time to be parked!

wsblover August 6, 2008 (10:51 am)

old timer, my experience was the opposite .. not only was it ticketed 5 times the first (time was the day after it was reported stolen) but I received late notices in the mail for these tickets so the fine went up on tickets I had no idea I had. The police had plenty of time to note where the vehicle was. To add insult to injury, I got the tickets waived and paid my renewal tab for a few years then they said that they weren’t going to renew until I paid the fines… but they waived them years prior! Luckily I still had the receipts. Also, you need to request a copy of the police report for insurance purposes so I request one in writing. I eben asked if there was a fee and they guy on the phone said no so I sent in my request then a letter came back saying had to remit one dollar for the report .. it cost more than 1 dollar just in postage with the back and forth. Room for improvement here. The public is always going to be frustrated by this sort of thing.
Hope you get your car back unmolested by the city and the thief Diane.

Rick August 6, 2008 (11:52 am)

It was 3 1/2 months before my stolen Jeep was recovered. They had been driving it with no front plate and 4 way flashers going full time (activated when steering column was trashed) and they were using it to steal other cars. It was loaded with all the tools for that purpose plus a gas can, jumper cables, oh, and crack pipes too. I actually got the call from the towing company the day before before they were going to auction it off. So good luck with any future stolen cars

wsblover August 6, 2008 (12:11 pm)

Yeah, the tow truck is the one that called me too. Do our tax dollars fund their budgets?! Also, why wait to get tough on crime only when it’s out of control? Recent examples, car thefts city wide and home robberies in West Seattle.

Ted August 6, 2008 (12:21 pm)

a couple of public executions would probably give the human garbage some second thoughts.

Jen V. August 6, 2008 (3:19 pm)

drawing upon my former life as a claims adjuster, I remember Acuras being the most often stolen vehicle next to Hondas. Basically now it comes down to: wait, and see if the thieves ditched it when it ran out of gas- or wait and see if it comes back stripped. Unfortunately with Acuras- it will likely be the latter.

zerodacus August 6, 2008 (4:07 pm)

Unfortunately its an all too common occurance and usually is just kids who take it to get from point A to point B, all the while knowing that even if caught there’s no foul. I had a vehicle stolen right in front of the house several years ago and never recovered, the really sad part about it was when the Seattle Police department auto theft division called me several months later to ask me if I had ever found my truck.

Sorry, comment time is over.