West Seattle Crime Watch: Home, car break-in reader reports

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two reader reports to share this morning:

THEY EVEN TOOK THE PILLOWCASES: From Jim in Arbor Heights:

Heads up for those in the Arbor Heights/Marine View vicinity. Our home was burglarized (Wednesday). It happened while we were at work. Busted the window pane on the front door to gain access…the door was wide open when we arrived home with our cat standing in the door way. They got watches, jewelry, some heirlooms, cash, some jackets. A couple of pillowcases are missing….I guess a criminal’s version of a reusable bag. It could have been far worse. Police report filed.

We followed up with Jim to ask about any particular items that people might watch out for if they’re browsing online listings, etc.:

They took a number of very identifiable items: a Breitling Blackbird watch with a black leather strap. They also took some mid 1800s daguerreotype photos in original leather cases. They look like little embossed leather books that open up with picture inside. These were family images. Not sure why they took those except for the fact that the pictures are printed on metal plate that looks like silver.

CAR BREAK-IN: From Randall:

Overnight (Tuesday night-Wednesday morning), 31st & Trenton: Backpack full of kids’ clothes & snacks taken. Nothing of value other than sentimental. Thanks for the broken window, though!

P.S. If you’re interested in overall stats, SPD shares them in various ways, but we just noticed that they updated the Seastat page for the first time in almost two months, and you can view the slide deck there for an easy one-glance look at key categories – for other precincts as well as ours (Southwest, which includes West Seattle and South Park).

mrsMarty December 17, 2015 (11:30 am)

I know we don’t live in WS or even in the SCL but we are close to the Arbor Heights neighborhood and on the 2nd of this month someone tried to break into our house by kicking the front door in, they failed because we have extra long screws in the knob/lock and the KC Sheriff says that’s probably what saved us from them getting in. Sorry to hear that maybe these criminals moved to your neighborhood and for the loss of your belongings.

KT December 17, 2015 (11:31 am)

Not impressed that the SW Precinct is the only one to report an increase in property crimes (+5%) and in particular a 15% increase in car prowls when every other area of the city declined. On the bright side though total property crime may be down in the West and East, their respective residential burglaries have increased 59% & 30%. The only thing I wonder about is when you look at statistics such as ‘Larceny-Theft’ and ‘Car Prowl/Theft- Auto Parts-Auto Accessories…’, is the reporting accurate, or given the well publicized failure to SPD to address property crime, are people not reporting?

j December 17, 2015 (12:11 pm)

Hire cops instead of cameras then we may get somewhere.
Cameras don’t police….they just fine you and send half the money to Arizona.

onceachef December 17, 2015 (12:56 pm)

“Tis the season”, unfortunately….sorry to hear about your break-ins.

Pilsner December 17, 2015 (4:15 pm)

Im sure ive said this before. But buy (i built) brutal looking metal gates and security doors. I ground rebar into spikes as sharp as i could get, then welded on top. I cant stop them from breaking in, but they will be injured, or at least inconvenienced for covering the spikes.

wetone December 17, 2015 (4:42 pm)

KT, I believe many don’t report. If you call the police for minor stuff like car prowl, minor property theft they tell you to report online or you can wait for a police officer to come by and take report sometimes, but it might be on hour or two. If home burglary I have had good in person response. Getting back to the online reporting I know many including myself feel the report ask many personal and irrelevant questions so have given up reporting online. Maybe that process has changed as I haven’t looked for a couple yrs.

Heylady December 17, 2015 (9:21 pm)

Terribly sorry to those affected. I constantly worry about this in the AH area. Love it here. But I worry. Question to neighbors who have been burglarized – do you have dogs? I have heard this is a deterrent but I wonder if it works. Thanks for sharing.

SG December 18, 2015 (8:43 am)

Attempted car break-in this morning at 5:15 am on 52nd Place SW between Genessee and Admiral. Nothing was taken because car alarm scared the person off. Police showed up quickly, filed report and patrolled area. Not the first time this week alarms on our block were set off. Keep your eyes open for car prowlers and keep valuables out of cars.

MsD December 18, 2015 (5:24 pm)

Heylady – a friend of mine just shared a post from someone in Ballard who had their dog (a pit bull) taken along with their belongings during a burglary. I don’t even want to think about what’s happened to that poor animal. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this happening. I’m sure a barking dog does deter some, but to others, it’s just something additional to steal.

Sorry, comment time is over.