Honestly, we don’t like to harp on crime too much in these pages. It gives the impression that Wallingford is crime-ridden, which it’s not really, no more so than any other neighborhood in Seattle: it’s just crime-reporting-ridden). So no, mom, we don’t really need a burglar alarm, but it’s always nice to hear from you!
It also feels like pandering. Our readership always goes up whenever we run a story on crime. Next thing you know, we’ll be running “6 Wallingford stores that can improve your sex life”-type stories.
Anyhoo, lots of interesting crime going on around the hood. In addition to the break-in and Broad Daylight Burgling we reported over the weekend:
First, the Seattle Crime blog has the scoop on a man who insists he carried that bag full of cigarettes into the espresso stand he was robbing:
A man claiming a garbage bag full of unopened cigarette packs that he was carrying was actually given to him by a motorist at an I-5 on ramp was arrested by police, shortly after they found him rummaging around in the Crazy Beans Espresso stand in Wallingford, around 2 a.m. on December 9th.
Officers summoned to the scene by a silent alarm observed the man inside the stand—which, by the way, does in fact sell cigarettes—through a broken window, and noticed that he was stuffing cigarette packs into a bag.
Ordering the suspect to lay face down on the floor, police arrested him after they themselves climbed through the broken window. The suspect denied stealing the cigarettes from the store, instead stating he broke in because he hadn’t eaten in two-and-a-half days, and had heard a person will instantly die if the go a full three-and-a-half days without food.
Second, Mary, who lives on Whitman Ave N between 40th and 45th, writes:
My husband’s bike got stolen from the backyard, we think last night. It’s not a big deal, the bike was over 14 years old. But, it does mean that someone was wandering around our backyard which is really not that accessible or can be seen from the street or back alley.
This morning when I got up to make breakfast for the kids, I noticed a man out of the corner of my eye heading down our driveway towards the street. He is caucasian and had a dark ski cap on, a brown leather jacket and denim shorts on. I thought it was odd, I also notice after he crossed the street he went over to the apartment building’s handicap ramp and stopped at the base and stood behind the wall and stared back for a few minutes at our’s and neighbor’s house next door which is empty now since it’s up for sale. He then left. The only thing I can think of is that he came up through our neighbor’s backyard which is now completely clear to the back alley as her relatives had cleared out all the bramble and over growth and her yard gate was open. I don’t know if they are scoping out the houses in the neighborhood to see which ones look empty for the holidays.
Anyway, I reported it to the police. Likely, nothing will happen but perhaps more patrols and people being more aware especially if neighbors are away for the holidays.
Julie adds to the litany:
My partner’s car was stolen from the 42nd and Winslow Pl N area over the [Thanksgiving] weekend. It’s a silver 1996 Subaru Legacy, no roof rack, license plate ends in “UAL”.
Finally, be warned people: every year at this time, there are reports of a large, Caucasian male in red clothing sneaking into houses through chimneys. Keep your flue closed!
(Thanks to Kerri for the link to the Seattle Crime blog article)
Perhaps you could add “crime” to the forum topics and that could serve as a place to exchange this kind of info.
The Bank of America on Stone Way and N 36th was just robbed this morning as well.
I think adding a crime forum topic is a great idea. It would allow readers to better keep track of what happened where.
Speaking of crime … this just in: Property crimes rose 4.5% and violent crimes rose nearly 22% in Seattle during the first half of 2009 over the previous year, FBI sez:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010563619_crimestats22m.html
Oh, for Pete’s sake, please don’t tell my mother! I’ll never hear the end of it.
In contrast to the comment & link of #3, crime overall in the US has gone down. Don’t know what this says about Seattle.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2010560409_apusmurderdown.html
Also from KaraScene’s link @3:
“…the number of murders, rapes and auto thefts in Seattle all declined during the first six months of 2009 compared to the previous year…”
“…despite Seattle’s increases, the 2009 crime rate is still lower than what it was in 2006…”
“…Seattle has the sixth lowest violent-crime rate among 23 cities nationwide with populations between 500,000 and 1 million…”
Thanks for the suggestion, Rutabaga. There is now a Crime section in the Forums: http://www.wallyhood.org/forums/forum.php?id=9
I’ll announce it more generally shortly and try to switch to a ‘weekly blotter’ style approach, rather than peppering folks who hair-raising individual posts.
Way back in nineteen and eighty nine, the Seattle Police posted flyers on front doors in Wallingford on a Sunday morning to alert residents about a crime wave that wouldn’t end. That was back with the “freeway-close” section of Wallyford was much more, shall we say, modest. Back or basement windows routinely got broken, stuff stolen. People got alarms and also fortified the vulnerable points of entry, compared notes with neighbors. Think like a burglar I guess.
Then the big thing for a time was for a burglar to walk in an unlocked front door while the owner could be seen busily mowing the lawn over there . . . opportunists are everywhere I guess, despite our little bit of terra firma being named-by-humans as Wallingford.