WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Police response at Lincoln Park; stolen green Civic; truck stolen, then found

| Crime | West Seattle news

Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

POLICE AT LINCOLN PARK: We took that photo late this morning in the park’s north parking lot, having gone there to check out a reader report of police looking for a man reported to be armed with a knife. They told us only that they hadn’t found anyone and were leaving. The call was classified “disturbance, miscellaneous.” Another reader has since told us the call was a report of “a male in Lincoln Park who pulled a knife on several adult males and threatened others.” SPD’s communications team confirms, “It appears he was threatening people in the park while waving the knife around he held in his hand. There was no assault involving the knife.”

STOLEN CAR: Linda‘s Civic was stolen in a Junction parking lot:

My green 1999 Honda Civic was stolen on Wednesday 2/15/23 at the Diamond Parking lot on 42nd SW and Oregon SW near the West Seattle Senior Center. License plate 404 XKZ. Police incident #23-044393.

TRUCK STOLEN, THEN FOUND: From Jonathan:

I live in the Westernair Apartments, 4201 SW Graham, and had my Ford F-350 stolen either last night or sometime this morning. I was able to recover it due to a Apple Air Tag I hid in the truck though the thieves did tear my truck apart probably looking for it. I recovered it on the 22100 block of 98th Pl S in Kent. I called Kent PD and requested they do a drive-by to see if my truck was there and although it took a long time to get ahold of non-emergency Seattle PD, I was able to get the car marked as stolen. Kent Police sat on the vehicle for 1 hour while I zoomed down to get it back. I had an alarm they were able to defeat and disable and had a back window broken out. This is the 6th time my car’s been broken into since Covid started in 2020 when I purchased the truck and the 1st time they successfully stole it. Happy to have it back and maybe my success with having an Air Tag hidden will be something others can copy and gain a small amount of oversight over their vehicles.

Camera February 16, 2023 (3:16 pm)

@Jonathan-sorry to hear what you went thru and am “glad” you got your truck back thanks to the AirTag.Have you thought of installing a small camera inside the truck? Small enough to hide it somewhere so it can capture their faces.

Mike February 16, 2023 (4:58 pm)

We need to start sueing the city, county and state. This is the only way to get the politicians to care about their constituents. They are failing to fullfil their obligations of public service.
- Brandon February 17, 2023 (3:03 am)
  
  so, suing ourselves..sounds pretty cool .
Pdavis February 16, 2023 (8:22 pm)

You can Google spyware and find things as small as a button that can hold a mini SD card. You can definitely capture a video that way. For the readers of the blog.: AirTags are about $30 and you can pair them via Bluetooth on your iPhone just by setting the AirTag next to your phone. iPhone 12 and above will locate precisely the older ones will locate generally due to software differences.. you can have up to 15 devices on your phone under find my phone. So I tags are magnificent. I have one hidden in my car as well. One on my dogs collar and also one with my keys. Definitely a fabulous item.! Apple actually purchased Tile. You might want to put a steering wheel lock on your vehicle? Glad you got it back.!

CeeBee February 16, 2023 (4:18 pm)

We finally had to go rent a storage parking space for our F250. It kept getting broken into and stolen. It’s a real pity we can’t live in our city and not get up every morning wondering if the car is still there.

Interested Neighbor February 16, 2023 (4:37 pm)

My son also drives a F-350 and has had a terrible time with break-ins over the last couple of years. It hasn’t been stolen yet but plenty has been stolen out of it. Your Air Tag recommendation made me laugh; one day in November, he discovered that someone had placed an Air Tag in the bed of his truck when he was parked at the garage associated with the Junction QFC and Petco. He drove to the SW precinct to turn it in but the lobby was closed so he left it on an outside bench. And he stopped driving his truck and parking it in West Seattle. He now has a job near Redmond and is happily driving again. Sad that he doesn’t feel comfortable driving and parking in our neighborhood!

Pdavis February 16, 2023 (8:25 pm)

Yes, it is important for us to know that you cannot gain access at the police station located near Home Depot on Delridge Way. Partly due to the idiots who caused us to have less police..( the stupidity of defunding the police!) and also, there are certain elements of our society that want to kill police so they need to have the building locked to protect them selves. And wisely so. Pretty sick culture we live in.

WSB February 16, 2023 (8:44 pm)

No, that’s not what’s going on. I actually asked about the lobby staffing at the SW Precinct Crime Prevention Council meeting that just concluded. According to Operations Lt. Dorothy Kim, they had been staffing that front desk again – you’ll note on the SPD home page that this is a citywide thing – but now with the new staffing they have everybody back out on the streets again. She says they’re hoping to re-reopen the lobby soon with an officer who’s coming back but restricted to “limited” duty – TR
bill February 16, 2023 (10:44 pm)

No police funding has been cut. The city has a large number of funded, unfilled positions open. This has been pointed out numerous times.
Josh February 16, 2023 (11:25 pm)

Way to talk about something with authority and then be proven objectively wrong by WSB. For the millionth time SPD was not defunded. Any yahoo who wants to kill someone would be absolutely insane to try to go to a police precinct to do so. A building with cameras and staffed with people with guns and a small armory. Nice story though. Im glad WSB knows the facts and is willing to share them over and over and over and over again.Police are short staffed in most of the country due to a multitude of factors. Like many industries. Yes some of the staffing is due to low morale but honestly if you need a cookie and a hug to show up to work at a job as contentious as being a police person then you are probably better off seeking out greener pastures in cities like Bellevue where there isnt much for you to do.
- Brandon February 17, 2023 (3:08 am)
  
  Yes, this.
- Jort February 17, 2023 (8:12 am)
  
  But, come on, Josh … doesn’t it feel like the police were defunded? What about our feelings?
Brandon February 17, 2023 (3:07 am)

“Defunding” hmm. The issue is that cops had to suddenly be accountable. Folks quit when they realized that fact. Are you held accountable at your job?
shotinthefoot February 17, 2023 (8:39 am)

wow, PDavis! you almost hit all the conservative boogeyman (completely fabricated) talking points. Throw in some culture war jargon and you’ll hit the Fox News Bingo! (speaking of sick culture)

lovesWestSeattle February 17, 2023 (12:28 am)

If you hide an Air Tag in the car, you should take the extra step of removing the speaker. Here’s a youTube video on how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtAay-N-LgYFor those who retrieve a stolen car, keep in mind that meth, and other cars could be used in the car. I’m no illegal drug expert, but pieces of foil may be evidence of this. It may not be safe for you to drive in the car after recovering it if meth (and other drugs, perhaps heroin?) drugs were used in it – you can’t just get it detailed/cleaned. The car needs special remediation cleaning. Meth can kill small animals and children. Learned this the hard way – immediate family member had their car stolen. A huge number of recovered cars have meth detected in them – something like 80% is one figure I read.

Terremoto February 17, 2023 (8:28 am)

Wish someone would mention some “description” of man with knife in Lincoln Park. There are some dense woods there, hard to believe he is actually gone. I was told he was also kicking cars? Surely someone there could give a heads up? I walk there every day.

WSB February 17, 2023 (9:33 am)

There was no descriptive info in what we got from police and from the reader who messaged us, aside from “male” who had a “knife.”

Interested Neighbor February 17, 2023 (12:02 pm)

Sorry that my original comment morphed into a discussion of police funding. That wasn’t my point – more that there are some people dropping those Air Tags into vehicles to track them. My son was concerned because he had driven home before he discovered it and was worried that the people who had put it in his truck now knew where we live. Several months have passed since this happened and so far no issues. Jonathan’s point about using them to find his truck reminded me of my son’s story and the flip side of the Air Tags. Some people use them to track others.

Sorry, comment time is over.