WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Porch prowler; south stats

| Crime | West Seattle news

West Seattle Crime Watch starts with a reader report:

PORCH PROWLER: Bryan caught someone on his security camera trying his front door twice early Tuesday morning – jiggling the handle and attempting a key code – at 1:30 am (video) and 3:30 am (video). Neighbors caught what appears to be the same person on at least two other porches at different times. Bryan filed a police report, #21-277629. (Added: This was in Morgan Junction.)

SOUTH STATS: On Tuesday afternoon, King County officials convened an online community meeting about public safety in White Center’s downtown business district. SPD and SFD participated too. From the former, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Dorothy Kim presented crime stats and trends for West Seattle neighborhoods adjacent to/near White Center – South Delridge, Westwood, Roxhill, Arbor Heights. We covered the full meeting for our partner site White Center Now but thought you’d be interested in Lt. Kim’s slides (click to enlarge):

Lt. Kim also brought the year-to-date numbers for West Seattle in general:

We checked the SPD data dashboard – that’s actually the entire Southwest Precinct, including South Park. She didn’t bring up/down percentages for those but the dashboard’s stats for all of 2020 show three categories are close now to the entire 2020 year total – rape, robbery, and assault.

Chris October 20, 2021 (3:29 pm)

Do not leave keys under mats, under flower pots, over the door, in mailbox or other places. Thieves know the hiding spots. It appears this guy leaned over to possibly check under the doormat for a key.

Jackie Brown October 20, 2021 (10:03 pm)

Just took our key into the house, thanks for reminder

Jay October 20, 2021 (3:40 pm)

There was a prowler in Puget Ridge at around 6pm on Monday in my yards and many others, and he ended up stealing a girl’s bike which was retrieved by her parents in an altercation.

WSB October 20, 2021 (3:59 pm)

I neglected to add the location (adding now) – Bryan’s break-in attempt was in Morgan Junction.

Ruckus October 20, 2021 (4:02 pm)

If you freeze-frame the prowler’s face in the second video, it appears he’s a senior citizen in his late 60’s or mid-70’s. Definitely an oldster

newnative October 20, 2021 (4:53 pm)

He looks confused to me and he was trying a combination, I wonder if he has dementia and was truly lost? He looks right into the camera too.

Neighbor October 20, 2021 (4:24 pm)

Notice how the guys shoes changes between the 2 videos… so odd!

MrsShaw October 20, 2021 (5:21 pm)

This appears to be the same person who was in Seaview/Morgan Junction (around 48/49/Graham/Eddy) yesterday trying doors, mailboxes/etc. We thought is was a woman, with grey curly hair. Might be the same person who was talking to themself at 5am after ringing a doorbell in the area? Police were called yesterday but unless a weapon was apparent, they were not responding.

Joan October 20, 2021 (6:56 pm)

I think it looks like a woman too.

MrsShaw October 20, 2021 (5:31 pm)

FYI – This is a Next-door Seaview neighbor report on the person in the video: She rang our doorbell at 5am, we heard talking so we thought there was more than one person on our porch so my husband just watched via our front window to see if anyone walked off the porch and it turned out to just be her. She then proceeded to walk to in front of our neighbor’s house where she just stared at the door. My husband called after her and she ignored him, he kept calling after her as she started to walk down the street, until she finally responded. He asked if she was okay and she said yes and he just asked her to not ring our bell at 5am. She said okay and moved on. The way she responded in general and the fact that she was talking to herself so much on our porch led us to believe there may be some mental illness issues, but that’s just a guess based on our observations.(edited)

Wseattleite October 20, 2021 (6:07 pm)

We should definitely keep not supporting the police. It seems to be working very well.

Ofcourse October 20, 2021 (7:34 pm)

Exactly. Crime is way way down. It was such a brilliant well thought out idea
aa October 20, 2021 (9:23 pm)

I am not a fan of sarcasm. Just be direct and express yourself honestly. People talk about defunding the Seattle police department and to me it seems like the issue has flip flopped so many times in the past year or two Mixed in budget news reporting and I have no idea where it stands. Can anyone share the current state of the process? I guess im asking because people talk about it as if has already happened and I dont know if its true. Only defunding I am 100% in favor of is the salary of lunatic, racist Ed Troyer
- WSB October 21, 2021 (12:02 am)
  
  There’ve been so many small budget skirmishes that it’s easy to be confused.
  Last year the council did some budget-cutting but not anywhere remotely near the “50 percent” rhetoric.
  Some more-recent actions are “defunding” only by moving units and their budgets out of the department – 911 center, parking enforcement, for example.
  We’ll find out shortly what councilmembers are proposing for next year in response to the mayor’s budget.
Scubafrog October 20, 2021 (9:55 pm)

There’s a price to pay when an entire police dept refuses to reform (year, after year, after year). I’m sorry you hardline pro-police types don’t get it. America was polled: 70%+ wants police reform. SPD isn’t above the law. And they have plenty of money for hires. You have no one to blame but the criminals, and SPD for not hiring new recruits.

W Seattle October 20, 2021 (6:41 pm)

Defund the porch prowlers. Problem solved.

Jackie Brown October 20, 2021 (10:05 pm)

Good one

MsJ October 20, 2021 (7:37 pm)

As a person who has cared for a parent with dementia, this looks like a senior woman with dementia to me. Just the way she has a pattern, and maybe lives nearby, and this is why the changes of shoes?

East Coast Cynic October 20, 2021 (8:55 pm)

It seems like there is a bit of redundancy in the maps: The South Delridge block appears to cover all of Westwood and Roxhill. Those two areas are pretty much ensnared in the broader crime wave of South Delridge give or take an improvement in a pocket or two, e.g., Westwood!

Jackie Brown October 20, 2021 (10:06 pm)

I think she used to live in that house and is returning home.

Ex-Westwood Resident October 21, 2021 (9:28 am)

All these numbers reflect is “Reported” crimes.

I know of people that don’t bother to call in Property Crimes because they KNOW nothing will be done about it, even if they catch the perpetrator.

They need to publish a report of “ACTUAL” crime and “Reported” crime. I’m sure the violent crime stats would match pretty dang close, but “Property” crimes is a TOTALLY different story.

WSB October 21, 2021 (9:37 am)

And the KCSO participants in the WC meeting ackmowledged that. Which is why, as we evangelize, it’s IMPERATIVE that people report all crime. It’s not about whether something’s going to happen. It’s having an accurate record AND what’s used to allot police resources, such as they are. The online reporting system is a little clunky but please use it (we have used it about half a dozen times, from car prowls in which nothing was taken, to our catalytic-converter theft). Also, if you have stolen property and it’s later recovered (which DOES happen), if you haven’t reported it, there’s no chance it’ll get back to you. – TR
- EmxWS October 24, 2021 (10:58 pm)
  
  It’s good to hear that KCSO is aware of the under-reporting, but that “clunky” reporting system is a HUGE hinderance and it needs to be fixed if they expect people to use it.
  
  On several occasions, I’ve started the process of reporting and gave up. All the pleas in the world for people to report aren’t going to help when the system is designed to deter people from using it. That’s just reality.

Balderdash October 21, 2021 (12:44 pm)

These creeps are never going to stop until they run into real trouble. So what if he actually gained entrance to the house and is confronted with an owner with a gun. He deserves whatever happens after that.

and ok.. if it’s a confused person, then that’s a problem. Either way, armor the house so they cannot get in

Cranky October 21, 2021 (12:50 pm)

I dunno about confused. Looks to be casing the joint and who knows if she has a partner behind her ready to confront the home owner or burglarize the place.. 2. 3am in the morning.. sounds like no bueno

Audifans October 21, 2021 (1:30 pm)

Pretty obvious that whoever is out there (deranged, confused, thieves, mental) are testing our defenses every night with car prowls, door jiggles, observations of your stuff, cats on the car. So I’m happy for surveillance cameras, alarms, good locks, whatever it takes. They won’t stop until they get in.

Lola October 21, 2021 (2:10 pm)

At least in the second video they were not wearing a mask. It looks like a he to me as they have some face stubble. Smile for the camera. Scary that they keep coming back.

Sorry, comment time is over.