West Seattle Crime Watch: Heavy loot; burglary bulletin

| Crime | West Seattle news

From Matthew:

Gatewood hill area behind Thriftway. (Wednesday) night an air compressor was stolen from the back of a pick-up parked on the corner of Heights Ave and 41st Ave SW [map].

He says the item is so heavy that it would have taken at least two people to move it from that truck. Meantime, from a Fairmount Springs resident, a report that’s also a question:

I am writing because I came home (Thursday) night to find an SPD burglary alert flier on my front porch. I live on the corner of 40th and Juneau [map]. It states that a burglary occurred within my block.

However, the resident went on to say, she can’t find any reports about that burglary online – here or elsewhere. So she’s wondering if anybody else knows what happened and where. (You can answer in a comment, or feel free to send us the info and we’ll update.)

homesweethome September 25, 2009 (6:07 am)

we have received these “burglary alerts” twice this month – and cannot locate where on our block this may’ve happened after talking to all our neighbors so we called the number listed on the flyer for more info…and never rec’d a call back

bebecat September 25, 2009 (8:35 am)

I also received the “burglary alerts” and could not find record of events on our block. Called the number on flyer and when I pressed for details about these “break-ins?” When I asked to know what was taken and what the perp looked like so I would know what to watch for. I was told the “alerts” were not sent to “satisfy my curiosity” but to give info about how not to be a victim. ie: not leaving valuables in your car and locking everything up. I was put-off and not impressed with the response. I sense this is an avenue to build block watch groups.

burglarbustindad September 25, 2009 (9:12 am)

Sorry to hear about your loss Matthew.
Let’s think about what this guy is going to do next.
When scrap metal prices were high, these guys would just sell it to the scrap yard. I am not sure where scrap prices are now.
The thief may try to sell a compressor to another contractor, if this was a specialized piece of equipment I would check with the contractors you know.
Law enforcement does not have the resources to do this work for us.

GAnative September 25, 2009 (9:45 am)

We received a couple of notices a few weeks ago so I emailed the SW rep and I was also not impressed with the response. A few neighbors were on vacation that week and my 12 yr old was feeding animals, watering plants, etc and I wanted to know what to be on the look out for and if they had already caught the person or not but all he would tell me was what date it happened and that I would need to speak to my neighbors for further information and that he would help us set up a neighborhood watch.

Also, both days that the notices were left on the bottom step to my front porch my husband was home and the front door was open, I would think that the rep would want to actually speak to the neighbors…

Luc September 25, 2009 (10:39 am)

I find it kind of ridiculous that the Precinct would leave flyers on doorsteps….If one is out of town, aren’t flyers cluttering a doorstep a great advertisement for criminals that no one is home?

coffee September 25, 2009 (12:57 pm)

when is the next meeting at the precinct? It would be good for someone to go with a copy in hand to see what they say.

WSB September 25, 2009 (2:11 pm)

West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets the third Tuesday of each month, 7 pm, at the precinct. So the next one is Oct. 20.
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Meantime, I just talked to Sgt. Jeff Durden re: the flyer program and its purpose – which we have reported here several times. It is to make sure that people in areas hit by burglaries know about the Block Watch program if there’s not one in the area already.
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He says they cannot disclose specific information about specific cases to people who call. (I suggested they might want to revise the flyer a bit to add that sort of disclaimer.) — even the copies of crime reports officially released for media use (and I don’t have instant online access to them, the city hasn’t gotten that far yet, or else I would be publishing updates daily – this is why the “send us your Crime Watch info” informal system is so helpful for those who choose to share reports) have the addresses partially “redacted” (blacked out).
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Also Sgt. Durden wanted to clarify that Benjamin Kinlow, crime-prevention coordinator, is not an officer – he is a civilian employee of SPD, and Block Watch/prevention tips is his job, not investigating crimes – if there was a “known suspect” for whom people could look, Sgt. Durden says, they would get that info out through the Community Police Team.
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http://www.seattle.gov/police/precincts/southwest/cpt.htm
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They hatched the idea of getting Block Watch info out earlier this year – but he has no additional staff and is out there literally walking these areas himself leaving flyers – with 50 or so burglaries in West Seattle each month, that’s a lot of walking, and if he knocked on doors and talked to everyone, the flyers wouldn’t all get out.

MLJ September 25, 2009 (2:58 pm)

“…with 50 or so burglaries in West Seattle each month”
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No amount of Block Watch organizing is going to help this out-of-control situation unless the police start taking a more proactive approach to this problem.
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I live up the street from 40th and Juneau, and we’ve had a bunch of break-ins several blocks up, so maybe they’re just laying a wider net.

As my block watch captain, I’ve been trying pretty hard to get more information from the precinct with little results. The main thing I wanted to know was whether or not they were connecting the several incidents we’ve had on our block, which seemed to be connected to all of us, and point to an obvious suspect. Abusive comments made to a neighbor on the street by a guy showing off his house arrest ankle bracelet lo-jack, comments that were also found on a note in one of the cars prowled, seems kinda obvious to me. I still haven’t heard back and that person has since moved out of the house he was renting, seemingly overnight.
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I wonder how pro-active the police would become if neighbors started protecting themselves. I’m pretty sure I’d be thrown in jail quickly if I broke into the guy’s house to get the stuff he took from me BACK. I’m glad I have dogs and good neighbors, because the police are not much help with this problem.
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Not trying to bash the cops here, but I could be doing a much better job on my block to help them if I had a little more access to information and some basic outreach and support services from the police.

WSB September 25, 2009 (3:18 pm)

MLJ – have you talked with the Community Police Team’s acting sergeant Adonis Topacio? Sgt. Durden mentioned him during our conversation in a context that I would say your story matches. If not –
adonis.topacio@seattle.gov

outtadodge September 25, 2009 (4:52 pm)

All this action in Fairmount Springs is why we’re moving within a week to a much sleepier part of town.

S5 September 25, 2009 (5:59 pm)

I also received this flyer (on my front step) on Wednesday. I live near Hiawatha Playground. Where is the Fairmount Springs area that outtadodge refers to?

WSB September 25, 2009 (6:02 pm)

Just south and west of Fairmount Playfield, northeast of Morgan Junction. Drive along Fauntleroy Way in that area sometime and you’ll see the green signs on poles – TR

WSB September 25, 2009 (6:03 pm)

P.S. Anybody who wants to see what the flyer looks like, A/Sgt. Topacio sent us a copy, which we converted to a PDF and uploaded:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/burglaryflyer.pdf

Kelly K September 27, 2009 (11:45 am)

FYI, when my neighbor’s house was broken into SPD gave me the fliers to distribute for my block. I didn’t have time to talk to everyone the night I distributed mine, but people knew I was the one to call to find out.

If people don’t know who dropped the flier on their doorstep, I would respectfully suggest they go door-to-door and ask (and meet!) their neighbors. I don’t know if it can prevent a crime but I certainly feel safer knowing we’re all looking out for each other.

Sorry, comment time is over.