West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 incidents with door-to-door links

We’ve published a lot of “door-to-door alerts” here. Many may be legitimate solicitors – but sometimes, as police confirm, it could be a cover for something illegal. We have two reports to share this morning along those lines – read on:

First, Nathan e-mailed about police activity in Highland Park last night, and then reported back later on what it turned out to be:

Turns out it was a house break-in. Two kids (15-17ish) were flyering the neighborhood with … Roofing and Siding flyers and casing the area. They came back later and broke in on 17th between Kenyon and Elmgrove, through a window from the alley. They were spotted by neighbors who called the police, and one went to the house and chased them off.

Now they’re all talking about a Block Watch – reminder, here’s where to start. Also don’t forget to organize a Night Out block party for August 4 – start here. (P.S. We omitted the Roofing/Siding firm name because there’s no way to know if the alleged burglars had any real association.)

Here’s the other report we received last night, from Lee:

I live at the corner(s) of Genesee, 46th Ave SW, and Glenn Way. Two young african-american women, thin builds, one a bit younger looking with long cornrows, the other a bit older with a high forehead and carrying a small purse, came into our yard, through our shut fence, up to our porch. I had just left my iPod Touch out there about 5 minutes previously while I went inside. It wasn’t visible from the street. My husband was in the basement, saw them come up our porch stairs, then immediately go down, looking at each other like “let’s get out of here” and leave our yard in a hurry. They never rang our doorbell or knocked on our door.

He ran upstairs, looked out on the porch and saw it was gone, asked me if I had left it out there, and informed me it was stolen by two people who were now walking up Genesee. I told him to call 911, and ran after them. I caught up to them, asked them if they had stolen my iPod, and instead of saying “What?” the older girl immediately said she didn’t want any trouble and I could look through her purse. And added that they were “just knocking on doors”. I told them that I just wanted to know if they had taken it, and again, the purse was thrust at me, and she shuffled around in it. Not wanting for ME to get in trouble for taking a strangers purse – I said no – it obviously wasn’t in there. I then went back to my house – my husband was on with 911 and they needed to talk with me to get a description.

I then went to see where they were headed – they were gone, and got into my car to look for them but they were nowhere. 5 minutes later and the police were there. Another policeman had found them on 47th and Oregon. We ID’d them, but since we didn’t actually see the act of them picking it up, they couldn’t be searched.

Turns out that they said they were selling magazines, but couldn’t give the police a permit, and it turns out they are from out of state. The policeman said they match the description of a few similar crimes around this area. Selling magazines without a permit is a misdomeanor, but hard to prosecute, so it rarely is done. They probably got a ticket.

The police think that either they dumped it and will come back for it, or just betted that they couldn’t be searched.

I feel like an idiot – I grew up the daughter of a crime prevention specialist for a police department, and leaving something outside like that is really stupid. I was in the school of thought that #1, no one could see it from the street, #2, I’m just inside the house 10 feet away, and #3 I’m going back out to get it in just a sec.

Just wanted to warn people not to leave ANYTHING outside even if you are on the other side of the door and it’s broad daylight. And if you get these girls trying to sell you anything – well, they are phonies according to the police. … And if anyone sees an iPod with an engraving on the back with =^..^= and “I belong to Lee Kelly” underneath, that would be my iPod.

Oh, and the police response was amazing – don’t be thwarted from calling about anything because of the street fair. They said that there is a larger contingent of them around because of it and will get pulled for anything – which was our case. They said that response times are the same if not even better because there are more of them on duty.

Again, there are legitimate solicitors – and they are required to show you ID and a permit (here again are the city codes). But we also have covered many crime reports where people knock on doors first – say something innocuous if they’re answered – kick the doors in if they’re not. So be aware.

7 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 incidents with door-to-door links"

  • Todd July 11, 2009 (11:32 am)

    Sorry to hear what happened to you Lee. Thanks for the report. We live close by. It is sad that we live in a time/place where things like this happen.

  • Natalie July 11, 2009 (5:57 pm)

    This blog is very helpful. I am naive and I never recognize nefarious behavior. However I am getting tired of constantly dealing with petty, inconsiderate behavior. I used to just brush off inconsistencies, but now I ID strangers, take photos of cars and people. I planted roses and thorny plants around my windows, gates and fences.
    Unfortunately, people are kinda desperate right now so we have to pay attention so West Seattle doesn’t become an easy mark.

  • miws July 11, 2009 (6:46 pm)

    Sorry this happened to both parties involved.

    .

    Lee brings up the very wise idea of engraving some kind of I.D. on your valuables. Years ago, the City would loan out the engravers. Don’t know if they still do. After borrowing the City’s once or twice, I bought my own.

    .

    I don’t know if they’ve changed the suggested procedure, but the used to suggest engraving your driver’s license number on the item, in a spot that could not easily be removed, and discarded, such as a back panel of a stereo. I believe I’ve even marked a few of my items in more than one place. They said to write it as: “WADL SMITHJA12345”. The “WADL”, as opposed to simply “WDL” that many of us that have worked in retail write on customers’ checks, is to distinguish Washington from the other “W” States.

    .

    Mike

  • flyintheointment July 12, 2009 (9:06 am)

    Black people in the neighborhood? Oh my! Hope the West Seattle Blog and those email vigilantes remain diligent. And Ethan and Lee…well, I just have to believe every word they say, including the subjective, because I saw it on the West Seattle Blog.

  • KateMcAdon\'t geven July 12, 2009 (2:14 pm)

    Seems like when you are giving people a description of people who came onto your property soliciting without a permit and most likely stole a high-dollar item from you, you would include physical descriptors like skin color, hair color, height, etc. It also seems like your neighbors would appreciate the heads up, instead of all but calling you racist for including these physical descriptors on the discussion board. WSB does a great job of moderating these comments, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have left the description if they felt that it did not serve a legitimate purpose.

  • WSB July 12, 2009 (2:49 pm)

    We have had the discussion here multiple times before, regarding whether to include any detail provided as a description, even if it’s a race/skin color description without many other details. WSB policy is to include whatever information is provided, however sketchy, believing that’s more helpful than declining to provide any information at all. We do edit in cases such as: if a full name or license plate is included suggesting that someone is guilty of a crime though they have not been charged, or if the information is not directly relevant to what the writer (or police, or whomever) are suggesting you look out for. In previous news management positions, we evangelized a position that withheld any race-related information unless there were many details available … but, to put it simply, we have changed our mind. Sometimes all you have is one detail – maybe it’s skin color, maybe it’s shoe color, maybe it’s a hairstyle. Share what information you have. Always interested in ongoing discussion, however, as it was discussion, research (including journalism ethics “best practices”) and feedback that led us to change our mind in the first place – TR

  • lee July 13, 2009 (3:33 pm)

    flyintheointment – did you notice I also pointed out that they were female? I guess I’m sexist! And that one was young? Look out! Age discrimination!

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