West Seattle Crime Watch, park edition: Bicycle found; car windows smashed

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this afternoon, both from local parks:

RECOGNIZE THAT BICYCLE? James Lohman from Seattle Parks sent the photo, saying the bicycle was found while Parks was cleaning up an abandoned camp “on the back side of Camp Long right off Brandon Street.” Now they’re looking for the owner. If it’s yours, or if you have a lead on whose it might be, you can e-mail James at james.lohman@seattle.gov.

WESTCREST WINDOW-SMASHING: This report is via e-mail from Amy:

Yesterday, 1/9, after exploring Westcrest Park to earn their “local explorer badge” for Cub Scouts, my husband, 6 year old son and four other families came back to find all of their cars with smashed windows! This happened around 2:00 at Westcrest Park in the upper parking lot. All cars were rummaged through, but no personal belongings were taken. The police were called, but at this time there are no leads. There are no security cameras at the park even after all the improvements the city has put into Westcrest recently. It’s sad that now 5 families have to repair the damage at our own expense…just imagine all the good things the Scouts could have done with this amount of money! What started out as a fun nature lesson for the kids turned into a frustrating and frightening experience.

rico January 9, 2017 (4:49 pm)

The property theft/car windows smashing activity is out of hand. No wonder, there is essentially no deterrent to stop doing it. Too bad our city leaders feel that this is simply an acceptable risk when living in the city of Seattle. There has essentially been no attention given to reducing this type of crime, but that is OK because all is well with the various special interest groups in Seattle, The rest of us who simply work and pay taxes are left with the results of what is left-over in the budget after all the groups get their funding.

WestCake January 9, 2017 (10:46 pm)

So midday Monday at 2pm you can smash the windows of 5 cars and rifle through them? Seems lawless.

KimRain January 10, 2017 (12:33 am)

They do it because people leave valuables in their cars! Stop doing that. Ladies no purses under the seat, that’s the first place they look !! I met a gal who had everything stolen because she went for a walk at westcrest, id + Credit cards. Lincoln Park is a bad spot too. Leave your car empty!

HelperMonkey January 10, 2017 (9:31 am)

victim blaming is so hot right now.
WSalive January 10, 2017 (9:37 am)

No, you’re missing the point. How do you know those people had anything in their cars?! The problem is, people can go to the park and not smash one window , grab, and run- but can smash and prowl 5 cars without issue..?!? Even if they did get caught, they would be back at it that evening. There is no deterrent. This is amazing to me. We live in this beautiful city, with a great job market, fat tax base, and we allow this to proliferate?!? My new housemate from NYC is surprised at our vigilance in locking our doors! I guess it’s a Seattle thing, to allow criminals to rape and pillage it’s citizens..
- WSB January 10, 2017 (9:43 am)
  
  The point is that car prowlers continue to take their chances because something MIGHT be in a car. We have reported countless cases (and been victims ourselves) with nothing in the cars, but because some people do still leave items of value in theirs, the prowlers are doing it on spec.
WSalive January 10, 2017 (11:18 am)

WSB- yes, prowlers may break into every car they pass, with the hopes they eventually might find something of value. Where is the point of diminishing returns? What is the “street value” of things stolen from cars? It seems to me that loss of income from being incarcerated might be a greater deterrent than longer hours at work, smashing more cars, but collecting fewer sunglasses to resell..

micbon206 January 10, 2017 (11:23 am)

The issue with window smashing at Westcrest has been on ongoing issue for several months now. In the Summer months, dog owners are forced to leave their windows down in fear of being broken. (Even when doors are left unlocked)

Unfortunately, we not able to do so in the rainy season..

Wish the City would do more to help prevent such crime.. Random Police Drive by/Cameras?

It doesn’t matter which lot you park in, or what time of day.. During some summer weeks, upwards of 10+ cars have had their windows broken.

Some people no longer bring their dogs to the park anymore because of this. Very Sad.

I don’t want this to discourage future Westcrest park goers. Just be aware of anyone who may look out of place, and don’t leave valuables in the car if you can help it.

AS January 10, 2017 (11:41 am)

Exactly! It’s the only dog park semi-close to me and I won’t go there again. It is sad. I had only just discovered it and it was maybe my third time there.

WSalive January 10, 2017 (11:26 am)

The report says all cars rummaged with no belongings taken, so apparently, nothing was left in the cars. What more the car owners can do? Park their cars in a circle, and surround with off leash dogs..?

AS January 10, 2017 (11:36 am)

Just over a year ago, my car window was smashed in that same parking lot. Purse stolen. I stupidly left it in the car but it was behind and slightly underneath the passenger seat so not visible. We were maybe in the dog park for 20 minutes. Had to cancel most of my cards and the thief tried using a couple of them immediately after at local gas stations but to no avail. I haven’t gone back to that park since. I see nothing has changed unfortunately. I couldn’t even get the police to come out when it happened to me. Had to wait and file a report the next day.

Sorry, comment time is over.