WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Bicycle stolen; business burglaries; counterfeit cash; vandalism…

West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

BICYCLE STOLEN: Joe says this happened at California/Admiral:

My girlfriend’s bike was stolen sometime (Thursday) night or this morning. It’s a Kona Africabike. Black color, single speed, with a front rack and rear rack. Next to the bike shop – had a cable lock, and the bike has a rear wheel lock. So I imagine whoever took the bike must have had wire cutters and a truck. Or just took it on the bus. Just want to keep an eye out for it and warn others to remember. Keep your bikes inside.

BUSINESS BREAK-INS: Three are listed on Tweets by Beat (the Southwest Precinct automated tweets can be reviewed any time on our Crime Watch page) – We’ve learned that the 4700 block of 42nd SW break-in was at Season’s Salon on the ground floor of Mural. A business about a block away reported finding a cash drawer dumped by their recycling bin, and the possibility of a connection was being checked out. Meantime, we don’t know which businesses were hit in the other two break-ins – one was reported in the 4100 block of California SW, the other in the 6500 block of California SW.

COUNTERFEIT CASH: The West Seattle Junction Association is also warning businesses that a retailer got a counterfeit $50 bill on Wednesday.

TAGGING VANDALISM: Big ugly tags overnight on the wall by KeyBank in the heart of The Junction – cleanup is planned, if it hasn’t happened already.

11 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Bicycle stolen; business burglaries; counterfeit cash; vandalism..."

  • Mark August 25, 2017 (6:03 pm)

    Bike stolen, too damn common.  When is this issue going to get SPD priority, enough already?  

    Seattle claims to be bike friendly, yes maybe if you are a bike thief.  Bike owners are not getting their due with the current broken system!

    • WSB August 25, 2017 (6:15 pm)

      You don’t think the story of chasing down a bicycle thief via Craigslist sting (reported here earlier this week) is “priority”? Took multiple officers, and hours. And as we linked in that story, it’s not the first time they’ve done that. I also found yet another case (not West Seattle, though) while checking recent cases in which charges have been filed. And then there was the Casey Carlstedt case (he’s still in jail after five months) …

      • Swede. August 25, 2017 (7:00 pm)

        That was indeed an impressive and efficient operation by SPD. 

  • Mark August 25, 2017 (6:21 pm)

    Yes there are exceptions, but when my bike was stolen last summer all the police did was take a report.

    And regarding the situation earlier this week, the thief is not in jail even though they were caught with the stolen bike!  

    What would be nice is some emphasis/stings going after the thieves and then see some real punishment exacted.

    • CAM August 25, 2017 (10:48 pm)

      Can you define “real punishment” and what you think the outcome of that would be? There’s been a lot of talk of the need for consequences but nobody seems to have yet identified what those would be. 

  • Erithan August 25, 2017 (7:31 pm)

    Man saw a group of guys drinking in plaza park (same ones I’m pretty sure who were there night before last vandalism to) didn’t call since no one ever comes, looks like there were about 4 calls for that spot last night though still…=(

  • Alki Resident August 26, 2017 (12:53 am)

    Just read on Komonews.com that Portland has a major bike theft issue and actually has a special task force. Over 700 bikes are currently sitting in a storage that have been recovered. 

  • unknown August 26, 2017 (9:12 am)

    I guess it just shows that Portland knows how to use their money wisely and how to divide it up where it is needed, unlike our officials in office here in beautiful…cough-cough garbage ridden Seattle

  • Kersti E muul August 26, 2017 (10:55 am)

    Someone dumped a bike in front of my house last night….

    Nice Mongoose.

    Anyone?

  • Mark August 26, 2017 (11:21 am)

    CAM

    I think the first offense say 40 hours of community service, garbage pick up for example, and restitution.  2nd offense double, 3rd offense jail for a year.

    Pay restitution in all cases

    MJ

    • CAM August 26, 2017 (3:34 pm)

      Mark, I think you’d find that most of what you are advocating for is already happening. As far as a year in jail goes, that is to be debated. Our prisons and jails are already massively overcrowded with nonviolent offenders. Our country wide experiment with mass incarceration has failed on every level and is not a significant deterrent to reoffending. I’d point you in the direction of Norway and other similar systems which have far greater success in decreasing recidivism than our lock ’em up and forget about it until they are released approach. 

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