West Seattle Crime Watch: ‘Tis the season for porch thieves. Plus two other thefts, and a found bicycle

| Crime | West Seattle news

We start this Crime Watch roundup with video of a porch thief who wasn’t even stealing a package:

Ramin‘s home surveillance camera was rolling when a thief stole “some stuff” from the porch earlier this week near 45th SW & Erskine. Thieves are striking in daylight too. From Sarah:

Wanted to let you know that we had a package delivered on our front porch by the USPS and within a half an hour the package was stolen off our front porch. We live on 35th between Barton and Cambridge. So, please let people know this is happening, and if they see a package on their front porch to not delay in retrieving it. I am filing a police report. Happy Black Friday…

Justin reported a package stolen from a porch in Gatewood, on SW Thistle between 35th and California.

Vehicles and their contents remain targets too. Car prowler(s) hit Tyson twice in less than a week, near 42nd SW and Hill in Admiral:

I’m a videographer and store some of my equipment in the back of my car under a cover which prevents it from being seen from the outside, but they busted my back window and took between $3,000-5,000 worth of lighting, tripods and misc gear. I assume the first time was just a test to see if my alarm would go off and they returned less than a week later to finish the job. I know I should have learned my lesson the first time but didn’t believe they would be back…lesson learned.

Police say they just can’t repeat this often enough … don’t leave anything in your car. Anything at all. Even if you think it’s hidden, even if you think it would be of no value to anyone else.

Meantime, Kellen‘s stolen trailer was found, minus its contents:

Last Friday morning the 20th between 7:15 and 8:30 my black enclosed utility trailer was stolen from my parking spot at the Public Storage facility located on Olson Place. The thief someone managed to remove the coupler lock and make off with the trailer using a U-Haul truck (according to the limited security video reviewed by the facility). The trailer was recovered the following day by Renton Police but all my tools and equipment used from my contracting business were missing. While I will very likely never see any of my tools again, maybe there is a very slight chance that another tenant there saw/remembers something suspicious from that morning that could be of help to the police in possibly finding those responsible. Or if all else, this could serve as a notice to current tenants of that facility to take extra precautions with your belongings that this kind of thing can happen; even in a seemingly well-secured place.

Last but not least:

FOUND BICYCLE: Look familiar?

Mark sent the photo, explaining that it turned up this evening on the side of his house, on 64th SW between Alki SW and Admiral Way. (If you’re missing a bicycle and haven’t seen the other found bikes featured here recently, check the Crime Watch page for links.)

AIDM November 28, 2015 (9:18 am)

Police always stress “don’t leave anything in your car”, which is very good advice, but there are times when we practically have to leave things in our cars. I think its also worthwhile to point out that most modern cars have mechanisms to disable the trunk opening feature from inside the car and to disable the ability to lower the seat to get into the trunk from inside the vehicle. Thus storing items in the trunk with the trunk popping mechanism disengaged and the seat opening locked is the safest place to store valuables.

Rick November 28, 2015 (10:19 am)

Aahhh,”‘Tis the Season”.

Sna November 28, 2015 (10:21 am)

I think we all should start leaving dog poop in sealed Amazon.com boxes on our porches.

CMP November 28, 2015 (11:26 am)

Brilliant idea Sna and thank you for the laugh this morning!

lookingforlogic November 28, 2015 (2:51 pm)

These guys are calculating, cargo trailers have valuable tools, some are observant and remember when they watched you remove work/hobby equipment previously and return to breakin on the possibility. It’s exhausting keeping up daily defenses.

Ruth paulson November 28, 2015 (6:46 pm)

Sucks to keep having packages stolen. These quality of life issues most people don’t have to deal with.

Neighbor November 28, 2015 (6:55 pm)

This is the same guy I called in a suspicious persons report a couple days ago on. He was walking down Walnut looking at people’s homes and porches. Too bad the 911 woman blew it off. He looked to be one of those living under the bridge. Not the regular brown haired, goatee guy but bigger.
Honestly, they tell us to call then just blow it off like we’re crazy then low and behold neighbors get robbed.

Lesson learned November 28, 2015 (8:30 pm)

Our poor neighbors! We are so sorry that even a pair of shoes isn’t safe these days. By the video, we see that the thief was headed toward our house. We kept our front lights on once and then realized we’d helped our car prowler do extensive damage to our vehicle. Now it’s too dark there to use a security camera…and the street is lively at night. Lots of mischief by the looks of the trash in the morning. Wish things were different.

Surprise! November 29, 2015 (8:21 am)

I’m digging this dog poop idea. I’d expect even the anti-poop movement of West Seattle could appreciate fighting theft with this great technique. I normally dispose of my pet’s poo responsibly, but we have also been victims of property crime…what a great way to pay someone wth reciprocal feelings around a holiday! (Our burglary was the day before thanksgiving around noon a few years back – jerks kicked in the front door, which is quite visible). Can’t you also buy a motion activated fake rock that makes the sound of a bunch of angry dogs? That might make someone jump a little, and it’d also tell the neighbors someone is snooping around a porch!

Chato carver November 29, 2015 (8:59 am)

Yes, tis the season. Out of the blue decided to review video from camera. To my surprise saw a man walking straight into our porch and to my covered bbq grill. In seconds he casually walks away with my propane tank. At 3pm, broad daylight. It was too bright for the camera to see his face. I probably wouldn’t have known til next summer if I hadn’t watched the video.

Alan November 29, 2015 (10:35 am)

@Chato carver – Did you try adjusting the brightness and contrast on the video player? The camera is averaging out the light, but you should be able to counteract that on the replay. You may make the background black, but that is not what you need to see. I use this on old photographs all the time to discover detail that you would not otherwise be able to see.

pupsarebesg November 29, 2015 (12:05 pm)

The poop-in-a-package strategy might very well backfire when dealing with the type of people who engage in this kind of thievery.
I’d be concerned it could anger them enough to prompt their return for the purpose of vandalism of my home/property.

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