WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Condo-lobby burglars; nonprofit vandalized

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

CONDO-LOBBY BURGLARS: Residents of a building in the 1300 block of Harbor Avenue SW report their lobby was broken into at 5:15 am Sunday (January 28); the burglars stole packages:

If you have any information on the break-in and/or the burglars, the SPD incident number is 24-901670.

BUILDING VANDALISM: Southwest Youth and Family Services – the nonprofit located just east of Delridge Playfield – was hit by particularly prolific tagging vandal(s) in recent days. They painted over the tags as they usually do but wanted to let the community know about the problem.

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy January 31, 2024 (5:19 pm)

Why do cameras always have blurry images. This is actually above average quality and the face is still pretty poor on the one ‘uncovered face guy’.

Ex-Westwood Resident February 1, 2024 (1:27 pm)

It all depends on the settings they have on the cameras.

The key setting is FPS (frames per second), the lower the number of fps, the bigger the “space” between pictures. 15 FPS gives just about normal human viewing. 30 FPS is the best, but it comes at a price. The higher the FPS, the more space required to store the video. It’s the difference of seeing someone opening a door (high FPS) and seeing them at the door and then the door is open (low FPS).

Light is another factor. The darker it is the less clear, even with “low-light” cameras the picture is going to be poor.

The type of camera is also a factor; IP (digital) or Analog are the two types of cameras in the market. Right now, where I work, we are in the process of replacing/installing over 400 Analog cameras to 5 Mega Pixel (MP), IP cameras. But that also come with a price; more bandwidth is required for the IP cameras, generally you can get three analog cameras (500 pixels each), or more, in the same bandwidth of one IP camera depending on the pixel count of the IP camera, i.e. 1.5 MP, (is the same as three analog cameras), 3 MP (is the same as 6 analog cameras) and so on.

All that plays a role in the storage space needed for recordings.

Storage needed is dependent on a few things MP, FPS and length of time needed to retain. Of course, the higher the MP, the clearer, more detailed the picture.

And the trade-off for all of that is the cost. The better the camera, the higher cost. The better the storage, the higher cost.

And then there is the whole infrastructure.

Analog cameras usually have a “Siamese” cable (two copper wires for power, mated with an RG-59 or RG-6 cable for video), IP cameras use CAT-6 for all, with the switch providing power through Power Over Ethernet or POE. Which is another cost. Our switches at work are 48 Port switch with POE+ for power. They run about $20K each and can have 47 cameras connected. One port is needed to be used to connect to the Video Management System (camera system).

You can go to Costco and get an OK system for home for a few hundred dollars, but to get a GOOD system with GOOD cameras and decent retention time, with a good number of cameras and monitoring system, it’s going to cost thousands of dollars.

Places don’t want or can’t spend that much on quality surveillance systems.

John January 31, 2024 (7:03 pm)

They tagged the sports field too. I painted over the damage yesterday. The same happened a few weeks which I painted over.

Sillyone January 31, 2024 (8:21 pm)

THANK YOU FOR PAINTING OUT GRAFITTI …. I do it as well and consider it a community service and also it gives a message that we are going to hold onto the quality of our community

Graffiti painter February 1, 2024 (7:45 am)

I would consider it a service if there was a group that offered tips, advice, and recommendations for painting over graffiti on different surfaces. Haven’t had any yet at our house, but I’m not sure how I would paint over it on our fence for example.

Sillyone February 1, 2024 (7:25 pm)

The most important element is to remove the gang tag.., or Graffiti(those are different things: gang Graffiti is actually claiming your neighborhood in case you didn’t realize that.Just spraying black paint over it so that the colors cannot be seen or the shape is the best strategy.It is a pushback to say that they don’t get our neighborhood as their territory

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