Unwanted night visitor

Hi all - We live on 19th between College & Bayview. Last night we were awakened at 4:30 a.m. by someone repeatedly ringing our doorbell, banging on our front door and shouting. My husband saw a woman with wild-looking light-colored hair walking away quickly, and by her quick, jerky gestures he guessed that she was on speed of some sort. Anyway, we saw her head 2 doors south of us toward the corner of 19th and Bayview and start rummaging around at another house. We called the cops and saw a patrol car drive by looking for her, but we're not sure if she was ever found. Has anyone else experienced disturbances like this recently?

 

Rachel

Beacon Hill rooster?

Hi neighbors,

I was wondering if anyone knows who owns the rooster in our neighborhood. Most days for the last few months it has awakened me around 5 a.m. with its crowing, and I know it has disturbed some of my other neighbors as well. I live on 21st and Waite, and I have seen the rooster as I bike to work on the corner of 20th and Bayview. Has the rooster noise been a problem for anyone else? Does anyone know who is keeping it? I would like to contact the owner; maybe they don't realize how loud it is.

thanks and happy holidays,

Maria

Red Car and Blue House (on Bayview)

Have you heard/seen the loud red car around here?   It has been driving
me crazy for a couple of weeks - I hear it all day and at all hours of
the night when I am up nursing our new baby.  Unfortunately, until two days ago I could
never get more than a fleeting glimpse.  Our friend John on the other
side of the block has been hearing it too and one night watched it park
on the street in front of his house & the driver got out
and crouched behind the car and acted very weird & paranoid.  We have
always assumed it was associated with the blue house on Bayview (between 19th & 20th on the S Side) &
tonight I finally got confirmation - it was sitting out in front,
running, with a passenger (white guy with beard in his 20s) waiting & no
driver.  The driver I have glimped as the car raced by is also in his 20s - white guy with
sandy hair.  The car is a Honda 4-door Civic sedan, that is a
metallic brick red. 
The license plate is 743 PXD.  What I want to know is, since this car is
SO obvious because it has a bad muffler and makes tons of noise, and it
clearly drives back and forth to the "meth house" repeatedly every day and night -
why can't the police do something to watch/follow it?  I am sure I am
not the only one who is noticing, and others, who aren't stuck to their
baby, could probably have gotten the plates and make/model before now .

 

Suzanne

 

Suzanne DuRard| Director of Legal Affairs - Americas

Legal Department
Avanade Inc | Global Service Center

2211 Elliott Ave, Suite 200

Seattle, WA 98121
Direct: 206-239-5839

www.avanade.com

Recent car break-ins and attempted thefts

Hi all - just a reminder to not leave valuables in your cars -
especially at night - as it tempts car prowlers. Last week our
neighbor's car across from us had two windows smashed in the night.
Unsure if the jerks found anything valuable - but it is never fun to
come out to that in the am!

Saturday night at around 10:30 - 11:00 (this is all second hand info)
Carolyn Sakoda at 2352 20th Ave. nearly had her car ripped off. The
perps were nabbed thank goodness - so hopefully we won't see much more
of that (our fingers are crossed). Remember you can get a discounted
club for your car through Seattle City Neighborhoods: just contact Kay
Godefroy at kay@sngi.org or go to http://www.sngi.org/theclub.html.

Happy Halloween to everyone - let's all be safe and on the look out for
trouble makers!

To post to the blog email: beaconcrimewatch.leeshaw@blogger.com

Take care! L.

ALERT - ATTEMPTED CHILD ABDUCTIONS

Dear Neighbor:

As you may have heard or seen in local news reports, there have been
several attempted child abductions in King County in the past few days.
In each case, the brave child victims took the right steps in not
talking with the strangers, in drawing attention to their situations, in
successfully getting away from the suspects and in reporting the
incidents.

We ask you to be alert and vigilant. If you see or have any information
that could lead to the apprehension of any of these suspects, please
contact the South Precinct at 206.386.1850.

We ask that you stress the importance of Stranger Danger to the children
in your life. Take what steps you can to ensure their safety, even if it
means adjusting your work schedule if necessary to ensure they are not
walking alone between home and school.

Thank You.
Mark Solomon
SPD South Precinct Crime Prevention
206.386.9766

October 5, 2005 newsletter

Dear Community Friends:

Laundry Room Burglaries

One of the trends we saw over the summer was a sharp increase in apartment building laundry room burglaries. Since May 2005, there have been nearly 40 of these laundry room break-ins. The perpetrator would gain access to the laundry room in a number of ways, often by exerting
force on a door or window. Once inside, the perpetrator would vandalize the machines to get the coin boxes. In many cases, the hoses and cords of the machines were also cut. The cost of the damage done to the machines far outstripped the amount of money the perpetrators got from
the machines.

The good news is that just after midnight the morning of Wednesday, September 21st, our Third Watch Officers arrested the perpetrator of these laundry room break-ins. A citizen called in about a burglary in progress. Officers responded to the scene and though the perpetrator
attempted to elude officers by hiding in a storage unit, he was apprehended. Officers knew this was the guy. Not only did he have the tools he used to cut the hoses and cords and remove the coin boxes, he also had 62 quarters in his pocket.

We appreciate the citizen who called 911 and lead us to the perpetrator. Without her, this perpetrator could still be committing burglaries and costing property owners thousands of dollars in machine replacement and repair costs. Thank You!!

We also want to acknowledge the work of the officers involved in the arrest. They were Officers C. Christman, M. Griffin, G. Osborn, M. Russey and A. Thorp. Thank You!!

Prevention Measures

Some of you live in, manage or own multi-family residences and have coin operated laundry facilities. Therefore, we thought to include some prevention steps for you to consider:
* Change the locks on the laundry room doors. In some of these burglaries, the perpetrator appeared to access the laundry rooms using a key, perhaps one acquired from a former tenant.
* Educate residents about ensuring the laundry rooms remain locked. In the incident where the perpetrator was arrested, he relayed to the officers that the laundry room door was unlocked.
* Restrict laundry room hours and double lock them after those hours with a sturdy deadbolt lock. Ensure to post the hours. * Have the resident manager make regular rounds through the laundry room.
* My personal favorite.... get rid of the coin-operated machines all together. Put in regular machines, still have them in a lockable room and tack on an additional $10-20 a month rent to cover the expense. This would be more cost effective than repairing or replacing $500 washers and dryers over and over because someone trashed them to get a couple of bucks work of change.

Vehicle Anti Theft Device Available at a Discounted Price

Seattle Neighborhood Group (SNG) has partnered with Safeco Insurance to purchase a large number of vehicle anti-theft devices - The Club. If you live in a Seattle Zip Code, you can contact SNG and purchase The Club from them at a reduced cost. Two sizes are available and there is a limit of two per household. Contact 206.323.9666 or email kay@sngi.org for details.

Take Care and Stay Safe!

Mark Solomon, SPD South Precinct Crime Prevention

September 21, 2005 SPD Newsletter - UPDATE on TAGGER Graffiti and the SPD picnic on S. Myrtle

Dear Community Friends:

Tagger Graffiti
Tagger graffiti represents the majority of the graffiti on our streets
today. It is not an isolated act of vandalism, but rather the visual
marker of a worldwide youth oriented anti-social subculture. It is a
subculture that says, "This is art, I can paint or write my graffiti
wherever I want and you can't stop me." Many taggers are involved in
other forms of youth-at-risk behavior, such as truancy, theft and drug
use (usually alcohol or marijuana). Often they experience problems at
home, school or with the law. Their behavior may even become compulsive
or addictive. The majority of tagging occurs between the hours of
midnight and six in the morning. Taggers justify what they do by calling
their graffiti an art, but going out at night alone or with others to
write, paint, scratch or etch their tag on someone else's property is
youth-atrisk behavior and a crime. In Seattle, it is estimated that
millions of dollars are spent each year to paint out or remove graffiti.

Taggers are usually male, between the ages of ten and the late twenties.
They are from all social, racial and economical classes. Many taggers
are skateboarders. They may not live in the community in which they tag.
Half of the taggers arrested or identified in Seattle live in outlying
areas such as Everett, Kirkland, Bellevue or Tacoma. Taggers from Los
Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, California have been identified
doing graffiti in Seattle. The conditions that reduce or stop this
destructive behavior involve:
* Painting out or removing graffiti quickly
* Immediate substantial consequences for the tagger's behavior
* Improving the tagger's self-esteem.

Long-term efforts by communities and families to expand a youth's
positive skills, talent and motivation help reduce tagging.
Eight Ways You Can Personally Take Control Of Graffiti In Your
Neighborhood:
1. If you see graffiti vandalism in progress, call 911. Do not attempt
to apprehend the suspect yourself.
2. When graffiti appears on your home or apartment building, make a
police report. Call the Seattle Police Department's non-emergency
number, 206-625-5011.3. After police document the graffiti vandalism,
remove or paint over it immediately. This will help prevent more
graffiti. For FREE paint, call 206-386-4093.
4. Ask merchants in your neighborhood to remove graffiti from their
buildings. Thank those who remove it quickly.
5. Call the Graffiti Hot Line 206-684-7587 to report graffiti on public
or private property.
6. Volunteer to paint out graffiti in your neighborhood. Call
206-386-9746 for assistance.
7. Volunteer for the Adopt-A-Street program. Call 206-684-7647.
8. Work with your chamber of commerce, community council, church or
service group to make graffiti concerns known to the media, lawmakers
and the courts. In the past, writing letters to the court and being
present for sentencing of the tagger has been very effective. Special
thanks to Capt. Wanda Thompson (Ret.), Sgt. John Heneghan, Det. Rod
Hardin,Sue Honaker and Heather McAuliffe for their work in putting this
information together.

Picnic At The Precinct
We're hosting a community picnic and invite you all to attend. Please
join us this coming Saturday, September 24, 2005 1:00 - 4:00 pm, at the
South Precinct - 3001 S. Myrtle ST. Meet your local police officers,
neighbors and community-based organizations. We will have fun activities
for the whole family, great food, entertainment and precinct tours. You
can win gift baskets, SPD memorabilia and gift certificates to local
businesses. We hope to see you there!