Just finished reviewing several days worth of Seattle Police reports from Southwest Precinct cases, as provided for media review (with certain details excised before the copies are made public, such as exact addresses). One of the cases that stood out, a heroic neighbor who helped catch burglars: At 7 pm last Tuesday, in the 5000 block of California, a man heard a loud noise, and saw two people entering his neighbor’s house. He called the neighbor, who was in a workshop on the alley; the neighbor went into the house and confronted three people, holding them at bay with a crowbar till police arrived. Officers arrested two women and a man. It appeared they had gotten in by kicking in a door. Read on for summaries of other police reports, including one night last week in which “car prowlers” were VERY busy in West Seattle, two bizarre burglaries involving water, a reader report of a break-in this week, and more

First, a caveat: All of these narratives are according to what victims/witnesses told police, and what therefore is written in reports filed with SPD; reports sometimes take a few days to get through the system, so when we obtained these reports late yesterday, Sunday/Monday cases were not available. Also note, these do not represent ALL reports filed with local police:

CAR BREAK-IN RAMPAGE: There were seven reported in south West Seattle last Thursday night/Friday night, one in the 11000 block of 36th SW, one in the 11000 block of 35th SW, one in the 9000 block of 35th SW, 10800 block of 37th SW, 2100 block of SW Trenton, 9800 block of 45th SW, and the 9200 block of Fauntleroy. The only reports that mention what was stolen are the ones for 37th, in which two guns were taken from an unlocked SUV, and for the two on 35th, in which iPods were taken.

STOLEN FROM A CAR THE NIGHT BEFORE ALL THAT: In the 9400 block of 27th SW last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, someone got into a car and stole its GPS system.

BOY ATTACKED: Just before 3 pm last Friday, a 13-year-old boy said he was attacked by “four Hispanic males ages 16-20 in a dark blue or black Honda” near the Charlestown/California 7-11. He says two of them got out of the car and demanded money, then threw him down and took his cell phone, threatening to shoot him if he didn’t hand it over (though the victim says he did not see a weapon). They were last seen heading eastbound on Charlestown.

THE BANDANNA WAS A CLUE: At midnight last Friday night, an officer did a routine check on a car at the Harbor Avenue 7-11, and discovered its plates were listed as belonging to another vehicle. He pulled the car over in the 2400 block of Harbor; three people were inside, and the driver claimed not to have a license. The officer noticed a bandanna was wrapped around the car’s steering column, and notes in the report that “I have been involved in numerous auto theft investigations/arrests where a bandanna was used to cover the damaged steering column and/or damaged/missing ignition.” He asked for the key; the car was still running but the driver, who had by then insisted the car belonged to “a friend,” said it didn’t have one. After being taken into custody – by which time police had learned she was 8 months pregnant, had a warrant out for her arrest on trespass charges, and had found various suspicious tools in the car – she admitted, according to the report, that she knew the car was stolen, and claimed a man named “Snoop” was the thief. (The car traced back to a Tukwila Police theft case.) She and one of the other two people in the car were booked into jail.

THE BURGLAR WHO HAD A SMASHING TIME GETTING AWAY: Mid-afternoon last Friday, in the 4700 block of 38th SW, a couple came home to find a black pickup truck in their driveway, its windshield wipers running. They thought it might be someone visiting their son – till they walked up to their front door and saw door-jamb damage and a footprint on the door. As they entered, they heard their back door close; one of them ran to the back of the house, and chased around to the black pickup, which the intruder was by then gunning – in trying to get away, he smacked the truck both into the house and into part of a rockery. The couple’s son by then had joined them; between the three of them, they got only a partial plate (which is not included in the police report copy that was provided) – but the truck sped away, northbound on 38th. It’s described as a black Dodge Ram pickup with extensive body damage, and the burglar – who made off with a TV, a laptop, and a GPS system – is described only as a Hispanic male in dark clothing.

THE VEHICLES-ON-BLOCKS THIEVES STRIKE AGAIN: Early Saturday morning in the 4700 block of SW Juneau, somebody removed the tires and rims from a 1973 BMW and left the vehicle “resting on concrete tile slabs.”

SOGGY BREAK-INS: Last Friday morning, in the 3800 block of 49th SW, a boy called police after coming home from school and finding the basement door of his home had been forced open. Nothing seemed to have been taken, despite many valuables in plain view – but the intruder had caused serious water damage, by slicing open a water bed and plugging a sink drain before turning the water on full-blast. (The report says another burglary in the same time frame, not too far away, also involved water damage; that one was in the 3200 block of 45th SW, sometime Friday morning, and in that one too, nothing seemed to have been taken, but the intruder apparently went through the house and threw water at things, particularly electronics.)

MAIL THEFT, BELATEDLY REPORTED: Though the crime apparently happened in November, it wasn’t noticed/reported till last week – A resident in the 5200 block of 18th SW says someone stole mail and used it to make purchases with debit-card information.

ELEVATOR ETCHING VANDALISM: A property manager at a building in the 4300 block of SW College told police they have repeated graffiti-vandalism problems, and suspect students may be to blame. In this specific incident, something illegible was etched in an elevator.

RANSACKED BY BURGLAR(S): 2400 block of SW Graham, last Wednesday night, a man came home to find out that sometime during the day, someone had broken in through a garage door and ransacked the house, while apparently taking off without actually stealing anything (though the ransacking was extensive – a bed was even “thrown over,” according to the police report).

ANOTHER BREAK-IN: In the 1400 block of SW Trenton, between 8:30 and 11:30 on February 3rd, somebody broke into a house by throwing a chunk of concrete through a window and sliding it open. They ransacked the house and stole items including a camera and video-game console; they apparently tried to make off with a plasma-screen TV but failed – however, they broke it in the process.

AND ONE MORE: Last Friday afternoon around 3 pm in the 7300 block of 16th SW, someone smashed through a glass door to get inside and steal items including a printer/scanner that was still in its box, as well as a camera and laptop.

WINDOW SHOT: Saturday afternoon, someone shot the window of a Metro Vanpool vehicle parked in the 2300 block of SW Holden. Two of its windows were shattered and one had a small puncture hole, BB size.

WALLET STOLEN: A woman who works in the 5900 block of California SW told police that somebody got into her workplace at midday Saturday and took her wallet out of her purse. She said she thought she had locked the doors of the business and didn’t see who it was that made off with her wallet.

TIRE SLASHED: Sometime last Wednesday night or Thursday, in the 5400 block of 37th SW, somebody slashed one tire on a black 2000 Nissan X-Terra.

CAR WINDOW BROKEN: Last Thursday morning, a man in the 4000 block of SW Barton discovered somebody had thrown a rock through the window of his car.

WESTWOOD VILLAGE DISTURBANCE EXPLAINED: We received e-mail last Thursday night about a significant police/sheriff presence in the Westwood Village vicinity. A report partly explains it: Seattle Police had heard deputies were searching for someone in the WV area, so when a call to Seattle 911 reported three males in a disturbance, they thought it might be related. Turns out that the 911 call was related to shoplifting; two people had stolen food from the deli and run across the street, where deputies just “happened to be in the area.”

Finally, one from the inbox last night — Susan writes:

We just wanted to let neighbors know about a burglary in Highland Park on the 7700 block of 13th Avenue SW. We came home and found our computer, printer, and other electronics gone. The burglars entered by kicking in our basement door, but nothing else was broken. We reported the break-in to the police, but we wanted to alert neighbors as well. Hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

WSB Crime Watch stories are all linked from this page, which also points you to the latest from the police’s own SPDBlotter site, and resources on how to protect yourself and your family. Also please note that the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets monthly and is a great place to get the latest information and to voice your neighborhood concerns directly to police leadership — next meeting is 7 pm Tuesday, February 17th, at the Southwest Precinct meeting room.