WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Burglary on video; mailbox break-ins

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:

BURGLARY ON VIDEO: That video is from inside Steve‘s home in the 9000 block of 35th SW, after burglars broke a window to get in around 5 pm January 17th. Some items were stolen, says Steve, who adds that the SPD case # is 2020-020431.

MAIL THEFT/VANDALISM: The report and photo are from Parker near Delridge/Juneau:

(Wednesday) morning my wife found that our locked mailbox, along with all the others in the cluster, had been broken open and emptied of their contents. We have no idea who did it but I wanted to tip you off to keep an eye out for what might be a larger problem in West Seattle. I can only speculate about what they were targeting but people are receiving their W-2s this time of year. It may be the first step of an identity theft operation.

If mail theft happens to you, in addition to reporting it to police, be sure also to file a report with the Postal Inspection Service.

John January 25, 2020 (9:38 am)

Sad. They seem so casual and calm . Like this is not their first time. Ugh

Bob Lang January 25, 2020 (10:23 am)

It has gotten so out of control.

steve January 25, 2020 (10:59 am)

I still find it incredible that someone can actually break into a house. What kind of scumbags can do that?Stupid too. There’s very good odds that their next break in will have a very different outcome.

Ben January 25, 2020 (11:18 am)

In regards to the postal box break in- This happened on the 5200 block of 16th Ave SW. I can share pictures later. We were not sure if it was something that had broken, but it is the large multi-box aluminum enclosure. It is currently duct taped shut. Unfortunate to find out it is most likely a break in and not a break down considering how close the one shown above is to us. :/

Joan January 25, 2020 (11:51 am)

Our large locked communal mailbox was also broken into, I think, the other day. The back was open and all boxes were empty, 5400 block of 34th Ave. No word from the post office about what happened. Looks like we’ll be picking up our mail at the post office until it gets fixed (or not). Thieves are welcome to my junk mail.

Teacher/Mom January 25, 2020 (8:37 pm)

I signed up for USPS’s Informed Delivery Daily Digest. Each delivery day, I receive an email showing me scanned images of what mail and packages to expect that day. If a piece doesn’t show up, I can report it missing. If the mailbox is rifled, I know exactly what was taken.
It’s a great service. Everyone, go sign up if you haven’t yet!

Pelicans January 25, 2020 (9:44 pm)

To All,I mailed two bills at about 1:00 am on the 4th of December at the drive-up mailbox at the California Ave. SW Post Office. They never made it to their destinations. After confirming with the billers, I called the post office and they connected me with a postal inspector. After I told her my story about using the mail box, she emphatically said “Don’t do that!” Apparently they know that theft from USPS mail boxes is a problem. She said the only safe way to mail from their boxes is to deposit your mail right before it’s scheduled to be collected.We can’t mail in the lobbies overnight anymore at California or WW Village PO’s because of bums and thieves.The inspector said the safest way to mail is by handing it to your mail carrier as he or she comes by every day. Whew!I spent over an hour yesterday at the bank changing my checking account number of 30 years to a new one, ordering new checks, and making a list of employers and entities to notify for direct deposits and auto billing. And no, I don’t trust online banking to be any more secure. I pay about half my bills by phone, 1/4 and occasional bills by check, and the rest by billing to a rewards credit card. It just seems like a constant battle against the vultures and forces of evil. And that is really an unfair denigration of vultures. :-/
- East Coast Cynic January 26, 2020 (11:07 am)
  
  Terribly sorry to read this, and a shame that you can’t mail in the lobby of the post office in your own neighborhood. Fortunately, I work downtown and whenever I have to mail something I either use the mail slot in the lobby of the downtown post office or if I have to mail something very important w/ extra postage I use a UPS office or a mailbox business service. I have been mailing directly from the post office since I moved here many years ago. In a neighborhood I lived in previously, there were problems with USPS mail boxes getting robbed – we’re talking as far back as late 80’s, early 90’s – which caused me to use the post office for mailing letters.
Seriously? January 26, 2020 (8:23 am)

I use this service as well. It’s great! I also use similar services for FedEx and UPS. Local businesses or neighbors might agree to accept packages as well during the work day to keep them safe from thieves. Your place of work might also let you put your mail in with the outgoing mail for the office/business.
WSMom January 29, 2020 (4:55 pm)

I also use the USPS scheduled delivery service and encourage everyone to sign up for this free service!

face less January 25, 2020 (11:03 pm)

Maybe it might help if we all get proactive in helping the police help us. Can we get a separate site where we can post all video’s and pics of thieves so we can look at the pics side by side, row by row. This way we can all start studying the faces of the criminals and if we think we can identify anyone, we don’t have to scroll through the site, looking for the post, we just click one page/one link and you can view the line up.

Gebus January 29, 2020 (5:30 pm)

Good Idea! Doesn’t even have to be a new site. WSB ever thought of putting all the video and pictures of the criminals on a wall of shame page?

I just spent the last 10 minutes looking for this post because they look a lot like the two that just tried to rob the Admiral Pub

https://westseattleblog.com/2020/01/west-seattle-crime-watch-business-burglars-on-camera-home-break-in-stolen-car/
- WSB January 29, 2020 (6:09 pm)
  
  Many things we’d like to do. Don’t have the staff to do them. The Crime Watch page itself, an extra place to find links to stories beyond referencing the crime archive (click the word under any crime-story headline) is an extra place to find all the stories.

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