West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 cars-on-blocks, and a burglary

Brian at TouchTech Systems in The Junction sent that photo Wednesday – he’d noticed this car parked in the pay lot at 42nd/Edmunds (map) for a while, with wheels, until yesterday morning. He notified the owner, and by late afternoon, the car was gone. Same kind of theft happened to Drury‘s husband’s car – read her story, and Amy‘s burglary report, just ahead:

First, from Drury:

I wanted to let you and my neighborhood know that my husband’s Acura was violated for the second time in the past three months. This time they stole the rims, tires and lug nuts from the driver’s side and left the car resting on a cinder block they must have brought with them (how very prepared of them). The car was parked on the street and it must have happened very late last night or early this morning. And yes, we reported it to the police immediately. They showed up quickly but said it was doubtful anything could be done about retrieving the tires. We already kind of knew that. The bigger more disturbing loss in this case, especially since this was the second time in recent months, is our sense of well being. We’re feeling very targeted and vulnerable, like this will happen again and again until we get a beat-up used car. We live on 15th Ave SW between Holden and Webster [map]. I’m so tired of this.

Amy writes:

I wanted those in the neighborhood to know that our home on 17th Avenue SW and
Myrtle St. [map] was robbed on January 20th sometime during the day. Luckily we were not home at the time but our front door was kicked in and the thieves made off with about $20,000 in electronics, musical instruments and jewelry. No one witnessed anything but fingerprints were taken and hopefully may lead to something.

Manuel W. January 22, 2009 (8:15 pm)

I don’t feel bad for 1 800 GOT JUNK’s loss. Their ginormous ad truck was parked on Fauntleroy in front of the old Huling auto shop building for months, and it was a traffic hazard.

WTF January 22, 2009 (8:49 pm)

No one deserves to be violated. Not unless the car was parked in the middle of the street, did it matter where, how long nor why it was parked where it was parked. Let’s hope the next car jacked isn’t yours.

WTF January 22, 2009 (8:55 pm)

Amy, we’re so sorry this happened. We’d be very pissed and out for blood if this happened to us (to say the least). This is yet ANOTHER warning to all *good* people these AHs will increase their activities as the economy slows. Hang in there; we hope you were insured.

road to somewhere January 22, 2009 (9:00 pm)

I am so sorry.
Question: did any of the car owners or homeowners who have been robbed recently have an alarm system? I am wondering if these are worthwhile for me to invest in – or just another thing that’ll inevitably be stolen/waste of money.

eileen January 22, 2009 (9:14 pm)

You can get locking wheel nuts for your car. Although I’ve heard now there are ways around that – also possible to have your car alarm have a tilt sensor.

Stuart January 22, 2009 (9:14 pm)

Similar thing happened in our neighborhood- 42nd and Hudson, a neighbor’s brand new Escalade with fancy wheels, was parked overnight on the street, Jan.16. Owner found it early Sat. morning, jacked up on cinder blocks and rocks, with the tires/wheels stolen. They called the police. Police recommended it is safer to park on California Ave, under the streetlights, where there is more traffic and less likelihood for thieves.

sean January 22, 2009 (9:38 pm)

Is that really not an advertising stunt?

Stuart January 22, 2009 (10:01 pm)

rts: the ecalade had an alarm syst. but the thieves didn’t try to break into the car- just to take the wheels- and I guess this does not set off an alarm system.

Justin January 22, 2009 (10:03 pm)

Holy cow … biking to work this morning I noticed a blue Honda Fit on 32nd, just south of Holden, in this same prediciment … jacked up on cinder blocks, all four wheels gone. The cinder block crime spree … I’ll be on the lookout for people hauling any around. So sorry Drury and Amy.

JanS January 22, 2009 (10:51 pm)

guess I’m glad that my car/wheels/wheel wells are filthy, and not very attractive…

I’m so sorry this is happening. Yes, it seems as the economy continues to suck, crime is up…or we’re just hearing more about it now that we have the blog…

WSB January 22, 2009 (11:03 pm)

car crime is the category most on the upswing. heard again from SPD tonight at the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting, writing that up after a couple other things.

WSB January 22, 2009 (11:14 pm)

Sean – that was exactly the question I had, so I asked Brian if he’d seen the car before WITH its wheels. He said yes, and added: “I doubt it was a stunt as the side that I took the photo is showing up on small bricks. The other side is bad and some rotor damage as the bricks shattered and the brake rotors are sitting on the pavement (this is not a good thing). If a stunt one would use logs or put the bricks flat to hold the car… unless they are stupid.”

morcaffeineplease January 23, 2009 (6:16 am)

I had my beat up 20 yr old Honda stolen on Mon. morning right in front of my house on 36th Ave. and Juneau, so I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s new or old or has good wheels or bad…if they want it, and it’s on the street, it’s fair game. Frustrating and maddening.

Jim M. January 23, 2009 (7:12 am)

Same thing happened to my Honda Fit a few months ago, only seven or eight blocks away.

We considered buying locking lugnuts for the new wheels, but my concern is that the crooks would be encouraged to break into to the car to get to the special adapter.

– Jim

Krystal January 23, 2009 (8:27 am)

I agree that it’s rude, no matter where your car may be parked, or what your advertisement may or may not be. But out of curiosity, there are always the “got junk” car and truck parked within a few blocks of each other. Is there a local business nearby for this? I have never found it while out walking my dog, but I think it’s strange that the “got junk” cars are always in these areas.

Krystal January 23, 2009 (8:32 am)

I think this stinks, but:
I feel like car vandalism and stolen vehicles are just bottom priorities for any police department. Everyone I know with a stolen car or the like never seems to catch the criminal until the police bust them for something else (speeding, drugs, etc.) I wonder if this is because they may not view this as a direct issue with public safety (unlike breaking into homes, businesses, drug activity, and more serious crimes). It’s frustrating, I know, and luckily I haven’t been victimized since I moved here, but in the past, when I have reported it, there was little to no interest by the local police department.

jsrekd January 23, 2009 (9:45 am)

I wouldn’t say there’s “little or no interest by the local police department”, but little or no time. The department’s resources are stretched thin and you’re right, higher end crimes get more notice, because they are just that: more dangerous, i.e. people over property.

Again, it’s not that they don’t care, but that there are a lot of, for example, gun crimes that are just plain & simply going to get more attention.

Christie January 23, 2009 (10:41 am)

You should have the local pawn shops look out for the tires, sometimes they take them there and try to get quick money for them.

Phoebe January 23, 2009 (12:51 pm)

I am the owner of the blue honda fit – our neighbor alerted us to the situation first thing yesterday morning. We think that the thieves were bold enough to do the job between 5-7 am. We, of course, filed a police report. The officer indicated that she had not heard of this happening elsewhere in the neighborhood, which I am surprised by, now reading all of these comments. One reason that these wheels are probably getting targeted is because they are alloy rims. It seems pretty clear to me that this is certainly a “professional” job. They brought the blocks with them, and didn’t even attempt to get into the car and search for any other valuables. It was definitely at targeted attack.

Interestingly, just after Christmas, we had to replace a tire that looked as though it had been stabbed with a knife on the sidewall. Perhaps that was the first sign that our wheels were being watched…

Needless to say, it’s costing well over $3000 to have the wheels replaced. I feel lucky to have good insurance.

I too am disappointed by the lack of response by the police. While I understand these are “victimless” crimes and only affect property and they have “bigger” issues to deal with, the reality is that in these economic times, no one should be suffering the extra burdens of property crimes/damage.

We are lucky that no one was hurt, but aren’t there better ways that these criminals could be serving society than by stealing and reselling wheels?

Hillary January 23, 2009 (9:30 pm)

Having been robbed last weekend (GPS units and a few other items stolen from inside our cars – five feet from our front door), we are also concerned about safety and are wondering about the best way to prevent future problems.

Unfortunately, as the economy weakens, crime is likely to increase.

In Baltimore City, there are cameras mounted on street corners (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2009/01/police_surveillance_cameras.html).

I sure hope we don’t have to resort to this in West Seattle…but I do think cameras can be useful security tools. Perhaps setting up your own if you have been victimized, or working with neighbors to set up a camera on your street?

Motion-activated flood lights are another idea (for houses, obviously).

Someone else suggested dogs, which we have (and I think they successfully scared someone off a few nights before we were robbed)…unfortunately, they were sound asleep during the crime last weekend.

I am interested in other opinions on vehicle and home security systems.

Drury and Amy – you’re in our thoughts. We feel for you.

Holly Jorgensen January 25, 2009 (1:58 pm)

This is all very frustrating to hear. We live on 3200 block of 42nd Ave SW and our Yakima rack was pried off of our car last night (1/24). It damaged the roof of our car. The rack was locked on our car but they were able to pry it off. Our car was parked on the street directly in front of our house. Has anyone else had this problem recently? I reported it to the police.