West Seattle Crime Watch: ‘Odd’ theft; burglary; suspicion; bike

Several West Seattle Crime Watch notes from the past day or so. First, Brian noted an unusual car-part theft:

Someone stole the Honda logo off the rear of my wife’s 2005 Civic. She noticed it missing Tuesday. She said that ones from nearby cars were missing too. We live in the 8600 block of 25th, 1 block north of Westwood Village. I don’t know if this was a prank or if those logos have some kind of value. Not a huge occurrence but kind of odd.

Ahead, a burglary, some protection tips, a suspicious-behavior report, and a possibly stolen bike

First, Toby shared word of the burglary:

I am part of a neighborhood watch email list and I received an email … about a break in that occurred (December 6th) on 56th ave SW between Alki Ave and SW Lander St. Burglars broke in through the back of the house and took electronics and jewelry. The burglars broke in sometime during the day. Although it may be unrelated, this crime was very close to where an armed home invasion occurred on October 19th.

Will offered some tips:

There are couple of new technologies that may help catch burglars – unfortuantely after the fact: The computer “cloud” and digital cameras.

It is much easier to take a picture of your valuables and especially the serial numbers, S/N, then to write all that information down.
Store the information and all your valuable information off site on the “Cloud”. So even if your computer is stolen, the serial number information is available. Lay your jewelry out and take some pictures. When the police catch someone and there is suspected stolen property in their possession, serial numbers and pictures will identify loot and you should be able to reclaim your property.

Take some S/N pictures this Christmas after you take the family pictures.

Police echo that as well – have records of your stuff (engrave items if you can).

Meantime, received Wednesday night from “TheUkeShaman“:

Near 23rd Avenue SW and SW Brandon St. at around 5 pm (dusk) a red Crown Victoria (possibly 98 year model) was sighted with its headlights on, parked across the street from the residences along 23rd Avenue SW and sitting there for an extended period of time. A concerned neighbor turned on their front lights to get a better view, but as they did so the car immediately made a U-turn and went south along 23rd Avenue SW. I’d be on the look out for a possible prowler/robber because it follows the M.O. stated here: westseattleblog.com/2011/12/west-seattle-crime-watch-suspected-case-of-casing and the concerning action they took as soon as more light was available.

And from Scott:

On my morning commute, I noticed a bike that looks like it may have been stolen. It was leaning on the bus stop pole with no one around. It was a high-end, blue cannondale road bike, but both tires were flat. There was a small, zippered seat bag as well.

My stop is just North of Orchard and Delridge on the East side of the street, directly below the big stairway leading up to Sanislo. I just left the bike where it was.

8 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: 'Odd' theft; burglary; suspicion; bike"

  • Marie December 8, 2011 (7:04 am)

    In regard to Brian’s entry on the theft of car logos. It is not uncommon for foreign car logos to be stolen. The theives add them to necklaces and wear them around their necks and add them to key chains. When I owned a jetta I had to replace the VW logo four times when working in the U district.

  • Sarah December 8, 2011 (9:44 am)

    I had the same vandalism\car part theft as Brian this last week most likely in area of westwood village. In my case, it was the symbol off my Acura.

    Theives: we are now watching you!Karma will come around to you…

  • Ed December 8, 2011 (9:47 am)

    Regarding Brian’s logo theft post – Unfortunately, it is not all that unusual. One time we got hit where our Mercedez (not a joke, it was a really old mercedez)hood ornament got stolen. We reported it. Police found a teenager a couple miles away on a bike with a whole collection in a plastic bag as he rode around, saw emblems and hood ornaments he liked, and snipped them with bolt cutters.

    Regarding theft in general – I think people should really be cautions, particularly near the top of the month when bills come due. I have noticed a lot more desperate and risky behavior.

    ed

  • Nancy December 8, 2011 (10:49 am)

    About 6:30 this morning, I saw two young(20-ish) men riding bikes very slowly up the middle of 15th Ave SW between Henderson and Trenton. Since their behavior was so odd, I watched from my car and then tracked them as they rode north on 15th to 14th and then north on 14th to Cloverdale, where they turned east.

    I just reported this to the police, but urge neighbors in the Highland Park area to keep an eye out, as it looked like they were casing the area (maybe looking for those exciting car symbols).

  • seaview December 8, 2011 (11:57 am)

    FYI- Our Audi emblem was jacked up by thieves trying to peel it off grill. about 4 weeks ago.

  • Bill December 8, 2011 (1:10 pm)

    I’ve had 2 Honda emblems jacked in the same neighborhood. 1 in the QFC parking lot and 1, several months ago on 25th, 1 block north of WWV. Not worth replacing since they’ll just get stolen again. Just polish up the area underneath it and forget about it.

  • Josh W December 8, 2011 (3:10 pm)

    sounds like something I would have done as a bored teenager… except we took hood ornaments… didnt matter what they were from

    just did it to do it, most of them we tossed away

  • Jim P. December 9, 2011 (12:25 pm)

    A lot of kids from the nearby schools descend the stairs onto Trenton by 25th in the afternoons.

    I live nearby and am often out walking. Some of them are definitely looking for something to do with idle hands and sometimes stealing shopping carts and leaving them all over the landscape won’t do it.

    There are some really rough looking and sounding types at that school (probably every school these days…being a “gangsta” is cool) and minor vandalism is just something the little savages like to do to pass the time.

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