17 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Alert neighbors strike again"

• toddo December 5, 2008 (9:16 pm)

  How do we know if we’ve “seen these guys” today? I’ve seen LOTS of black guys today. A little more description would be helpful… size, build, age, clothing….

• Jerald December 5, 2008 (10:24 pm)

  I haven’t seen many peering in my windows, though.

• littlebrowndog December 6, 2008 (6:43 am)

  It’s great that neighbors are so alert. Thank goodness for good neighbors.

  But simply saying they were African American—that sounds as if ANY African American guys in our neighborhoods are to be suspected. I agree, descriptions like “red baseball cap, gray sweats” etc. would be useful. Yes, anybody of any ethnicity peering in windows is higly suspect—but who do we know to look out for with the only description being race? “and she chased away 2 (white) men in our front yard…” Totally unhelpful.

  But again, thank goodness for alert neighbors. That is what “community” is all about.

• WSB December 6, 2008 (6:51 am)

  Just for context’s sake, we’ve had this discussion here some months ago. I noted that back in my old-media days, as a manager/gatekeeper type, I more or less banned any mention of race in news stories unless it was actually relevant to the topic, or, in a story like this, unless there was a lot more descriptive information. After thinking long and hard about it, and participating in a spirited discussion with WSB’ers, we decided not to have that rule here; in some cases, that may be the only descriptive information there is, and whatever information is available shouldn’t be withheld. I agree that it’s not much to go on but in some cases there isn’t anything else to note – you see it in police reports and hear it in “be on the lookout” scanner broadcasts all the time. This is what was shared in the “reader report,” and that’s what we published. Just mentioning that for context’s sake – we’re both heading out to photograph early-early morning events but if I can find that link later I’ll add it – TR

• mar3c December 6, 2008 (10:50 am)

  i had to call the cops about 3 weeks ago in fairmount springs. we came home to find “a particular individual” leaning against a neighbor’s car near where we usually park. as our headlights hit him, he kind of shuffled up the middle of the street, constantly turning back to watch us watch him.
  .
  a little while later he knocked. and an unaware member of our family opened the door before i could stop him. (but i was close by and coiled like a spring. :) b.s. about running out of gas, waiting for “kiki” to return, and asking if we’d seen her. (methinks kiki absconded with this particular individual’s gas can and money. uh-huh, yeah, right.)
  .
  a couple different neighbors had similar experiences with this particular individual.
  .
  could be a bus pirate, could be someone casing houses, could be a murderous raving lunatic. could be related to the story in gatewood, could be not. either he went into fairmount park, left via fauntleroy, or the cops made him move along.
  .
  description: male, late 40’s – early 50’s, 5’8″ or so, 160 lbs, african-american, lightly bearded, black quilted jacket, black jeans with paint spatters, dark trucker’s cap.

• Andrew Staler December 6, 2008 (11:16 am)

  Why African American? Why not African American?
  When looking for a person’s identifiable characteristics, you 1st look at the most objective ones. Tall is subjective, build is subjective, clothing is not permanent, race less so.

• littlebrowndog December 6, 2008 (12:36 pm)

  But if African American is the only attribute/descriptor mentioned does that mean we should be suspicious of every African American man who comes along in the neighborhood? If we see an African American man should we call 9-1-1 because this may be the person in question? Should the police be stopping every African American man they see in the neighborhood when responding to such a call, regardless of clothing, regardless of facial hair or lack of facial hair, regardless of age….? If I said “there was an unfamiliar white guy standing in my yard when I got home” what about that would provide any identifying information to the police or the neighbors?

• Jerald December 6, 2008 (1:06 pm)

  I think it’s helpful to have any description, yes even race (although that can be hard to identify).

  If I lived near Thriftway and had two African-American men approach my door, I would not normally be on alert — unless I’d just read this report.

  Similarly, they could have been three blond teenage girls or a group of Boy Scouts snooping around. If I’d been warned that such people were out causing trouble, I’d be extra cautious.

• charles December 6, 2008 (1:52 pm)

  if any one comes to our door, and i don,t know them. action plan one go,s into affect. not taking any chanches with the lot of them. don,t care what color they are.

• kh December 6, 2008 (2:34 pm)

  thanks for the laugh, toddo. kh

• Guy who posted the report December 6, 2008 (5:01 pm)

  I was the one that reported this and that was the only description that I had from the neighbor….trust me, I asked for more details. People are too out for trying to crucify anyone whom mentions even the slightest hint of anything that could be assumed to be a sterotype. It was a description of the situation and when asked if anyone had seen these guys…I wasnt mentioning generally, I was mentioning at 10AM in the Gatewood area behind Thirftway. Get a clue. What if I had instead replaced the description with “2 white men ” but added “…wearing a Rat City Roller Girl shirt” – im sure anyone (toddo or otherwise) would jump on that as a steroptype as well (since there are thousands of people who fit that description).

  Dont be so quick to pick a fight. It could be worse, we could all be a non-close knit community of close lipped neighbors who dont keep an eye on one another….doesnt sound like West Seattle to me ~!!!!!

• Kris December 6, 2008 (8:17 pm)

  Good grief people, all too quick to jump on someone presuming they are stereotyping by race, Guy was just trying to be as descriptive as possible with the little info they had. Kudos to your neighbors, I love West Seattle!

• Joseph December 7, 2008 (7:41 am)

  The fact remains it was two men in someones yard that did NOT belong there … And if the neighbor noted that the two men were african-American there is nothing wrong with that … yes … a note of height, size, build, age, etc … would be nice also, but … yes two men that did NOT belong in that yard were chased away… I am grateful to the neighbor who brought out the dog. And if I see two african-American men looking in one of my neighbors windows, etc … I will dial 911 and use that as a descriptive beginning in the telephone call. Listen folks, don’t get caught up in the middle of a political correctness debate re/ crime or in this case a potential crime. Just an opinion like it or not, we all get one.

• WTF December 9, 2008 (9:31 pm)

  Oh, here we go again! Let’s focus on the unimportant and become so PC that NOTHING gets communicated or resolved. If those guys trespassing were black, say they were black. If they were white, say they were white, chinese, pink with yellow dots, then get on with it. If that’s the description that’s the description. I agree that we need more information to go on; color of skin is only one descriptor that helps. But, for god’s sake, stop being so GD sensitive and focus on the fact a house was being cased, and a good neighbor helped avoid a potential break-in. So let’s ALL keep our eyes peeled… regardless of the exterior.

• Joseph December 12, 2008 (4:51 am)

  I concur w/ WTF keep an eye out … break-in happened to me on November 15th so it does happen in our little corner of the world.

• roberto jose December 12, 2008 (11:40 pm)

  The real issue isn’t the race of the potential burglars. The real issue is that residential burglary is rarely prosecuted within the Seattle city limits. Since the jails in King County are full-to-capacity, residential burglary is a low priority for the King County Prosecutor. Although a felony, residential burglary usually just results in a pleading of unlawful entry, a misdemeanor. And if caught, the perps are back on the street in two hours or less. You see, burglars don’t fear the police – burglars just fear being wounded by a homeowner’s weapon.

• anon December 26, 2008 (10:01 pm)

  You people sicken me, we have moved from this neighborhood and thank god. I decided to check in and see how things were doing in W Seattle, it looks like the same old garbage. I was broken into 3 months after living in W Seattle, while at home by two young black males. Once again I see everyone here fighting over what is politically correct. I’m sorry facts are facts, if they’re black or white or whatever it IS a very important part of the description. Stop persecuting the victims! If the good people start working together, rather than attacking each other maybe these guys would get arrested. I’ve since moved to a wonderful community that looks out for it’s neighbors and does not attack anyone who see’s something suspicious going on at each others houses. I’m not mentioning where I live because I wouldn’t want these guys to get any ideas they can stay far away from me. I was traumatized by what happened to me I will never forget that day and from now on will always have my eyes and ears open. Never second guess your instincts, if you see something suspicious, even remotely report it. It could help solve a case in the end.

Sorry, comment time is over.