WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen plates travel far; car-prowl loot to look for; painted peepholes

| Crime | West Seattle news

Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch today;

STOLEN PLATES TRAVEL FAR: From Jay:

I wanted to reach out in case others in WS have had their plates stolen. Sometime this week the license plates were stolen off my Jeep near 35th and Barton. I was notified of this by the Auburn PD this morning when they called stating my vehicle was caught on video during a theft. My vehicle was still parked at home, but my plates had been swapped out to a very similar plate number (my plate started AVD, “new” plate started AAD and are from a stolen car). They even left my license plate frames and swapped over my current registration stickers to help make sure it was hard to notice. The Auburn PD let me know the vehicle used was also the same make, model, and color of my Jeep. The Auburn PD case # is 21-02833 and the SPD incident # is 2021-68789.

This afternoon we heard a conversation on police radio about other stolen plates, so keep close watch on yours – it might be a trend.

CAR-PROWL LOOT TO LOOK FOR: From Dan:

Our car was broken into last night in the Genesee Hill neighborhood (4100 block of 53rd Ave. SW). The only thing of value taken was a backpack full of golf discs, some with some sentimental value. It’s a green Dynamic Discs Paratrooper bag. There were a variety of discs in the bag, but they all have my initials and phone number on them.

No police-report number yet; let us know if you think you have found the bag and/or one or more of the discs, and we will connect you.

PAINTED PEEPHOLES: From Stefan:

We wanted to report that Friday 3/19 night or Saturday 3/20 morning, someone spray-painted over the peepholes on both doors of our 2-unit townhouse.

They also stole a toolbox that was cable locked to the bed of a neighbor’s pickup truck. We assume that they are related.

Our units are on the alley off Fauntleroy adjacent to FairmoUnt Park School. There have been a lot of incidents lately. Our car was broken into 6 weeks ago. Our immediate neighbor has had the catalytic converters stolen twice from his car, and the neighbor who lost the toolbox also had a scooter stolen from the same area. … We’ve owned our unit for 10 years and haven’t had this many issues combined previously. There is typically a lot of foot traffic in the alley since people are walking to Fairmount with kids and dogs.

CarDriver March 21, 2021 (5:49 pm)

Brings up a point. Hopefully everybody knows their license plate#. I’ve known people who didn’t know theirs.

Bill March 22, 2021 (12:40 am)

Keep a copy of your registration – in the house!
- Auntie March 22, 2021 (10:11 am)
  
  I’m guessing most people do not memorize their license plate #s. You can write it on a small sticky note and put it on the insurance card that you carry in your wallet. If your car is stolen, the first things you will need are your insurance info and license #!
  - 1994 March 22, 2021 (9:18 pm)
    
    Registration is in my wallet along with the insurance card where I have written my license plate numbers onto the card.

Joe March 21, 2021 (7:33 pm)

What is wrong with people?…painting peepholes? It seems like there has been a lot of property crime around here lately. The pointless vandalism is the most irritating.

Alex S. March 22, 2021 (12:35 pm)

What’s wrong is that serial criminals are not doing any serious jail time, and casually skipping their hearings knowing that our hapless city attorney and muni court judges won’t penalize them beyond a slap on the wrist. These habitual crooks have also been emboldened by so-called criminal justice reform activists (and their city council) who now view perpetrators as victims, and crime victims as “perpetuating an unfair system”

Ed March 21, 2021 (8:39 pm)

Having had my plates stolen a decade ago, I can certainly understand the “wtf” of it. The first thing you do is call 911 and have a report opened, then you head directly to a Notary and fill out an “Authorization of loss” or similar. You have to protect yourself and document things ASAP. So to recap -1: Call 911 and report theft of plates. Take a photo of your car missing it’s plate(s) 2: head to your local bank where they typically have a free notary service. File the affidavit of loss with the notary. 3 Get new plates and use security screws like “torx plus” to mount and cover your new plates.

Stolen Plates March 21, 2021 (10:59 pm)

Had my rear plates stolen a few months ago, followed the steps listed above, irritating inconvenience.

DM March 22, 2021 (12:41 am)

Regarding the catalytic converter situation near the school, I caught someone last night
on a red motorcycle, red helmet, low profile backpack and grey/black
clothes checking out a neighbor’s Prius near the same alley. He couldn’t
have taken it with him, so I figure he was probably scoping out cars or
areas to add to a list…

NW March 22, 2021 (6:01 am)

I’m one of these individuals that doesn’t drive their car much it’s parked for days and weeks in the driveway, ride bike and use transit. As a security measure to my 90s Nissan truck I remove the battery now I will start also removing the license plates. It will take me 10 minutes to prep the truck before I drive.

Smittytheclown March 22, 2021 (6:08 am)

This makes me wonder if anyone will claim their plates are stolen, get replacements, then switch out the “stolen” plates any time they want to cross the lower bridge. If your plates were “stolen” right after you got your tabs you could do this for quite a while. I wonder if the surveillance can attach plates to car make and model?

Stealfree March 23, 2021 (8:54 am)

I purchased a pack of tamper resistant license plates screws from the auto parts store, they use a hex wrench with a hole in the center and the screws are beveled so they are very difficult to remove without the hex wrench. I keep the wrench in the glove box just in case. Also take a razor and make a few passes through the tags on the plate so these shred if someone tries to peel off the plates. May not be theft proof but hopefully annoying enough they go to the next car.

Sorry, comment time is over.