April Police Blotter

Burglaries increase as weather improves

It's much the same story every year: as we head into the summer months, burglaries accelerate in the neighborhood and eventually, after several months of this increased criminal activity, we remind readers to be vigilant.  This year we're reminding everyone early on: watch those open doors and windows on warm days and don't leave ladders propped up against your house or lying handy in the yard. These thoughtless acts can become invitations to the wrong kind of guest.

Not that criminals really need an invitation. There are always a number of forced-entry burglaries that occur here in any given month, good weather or bad.  We had a few of these in April. The first took place on the 2200 block of 39th Avenue E. at about 1pm on April 3. A woman reported to police that an unknown male had come into her house through a window and might still be in the house.  Police checked the house but did not find the intruder.  She told police that the perpetrator, described as a Latino male in his early 20s, had suddenly entered her second-story bedroom.  The woman screamed and the man ran back downstairs, apparently exiting through an open window.   Police found latent prints around the window sill.  A police search of the neighborhood was inconclusive.

There was a burglary reported on the 3800 block of E. Highland Drive on April 11.  The homeowner reported that when he returned home that afternoon he noticed that the drawers to his desk were open and that some "Sacagawea coins" were missing.  As he walked towards his bedroom, he discovered a crowbar on the floor near the bedroom door and noticed that the back door to the house was wide open.  It appeared that the intruders had tried to use the crowbar to gain entrance to the door leading to the main house, where the victim's landlords lived.  Police determined that the suspect had probably entered the premises through an open window.

Another incident occurred on the 1200 block of 38th Avenue E. and was reported on April 17, when a homeowner discovered that about $60,000 worth of heirloom jewelry had been stolen from a safe in her home.  She reported to police that the home is completely armed, and the only people who knew the code were family members and the cleaning crew, who had worked for her for more than ten years. The thief, after stealing the jewelry, had replaced the empty boxes back in the safe so that the theft would go unnoticed for some time.  The victim told police that she had last seen the jewelry on February 14.

A burglary also occurred on April 21 in The Edgewater Apartments.  The apartment dwellers reported that when they left their residence in the morning they had locked the door.  When they returned, however, the door was not dead-bolted.  They immediately noticed that an iPad was missing from the apartment, later noticing that a keyboard for the iPad, plus two chargers and two headphones were also not to be found.  Some jewelry had also been taken.  The police report notes that there was no sign of forced entry, but the apartment had a kitchen window that didn't lock and that leads to a fire escape which is shared with a neighbor.  The apartment building, which contains six apartments, is accessible through a secured main-floor lobby, to which tenants gain access by punching a code into an exterior keypad.

There were also two burglaries of neighborhood businesses during the month. On April 2, Nishino experienced a break-in.  A 3 ft. by 2 ft. double-paned window was shattered on the front of the restaurant and the suspect climbed inside. It  appeared that he had cut himself in the process, since there were blood smears on the floor, leading through the restaurant toward the rear exit. Nothing appeared to have been stolen. In the second incident, occurring on April 27, a business on the 4100 block of E. Madison Street.  The owner reported that about $2,000 worth of product had been stolen from the premises.

During the month there were also three cases of fraud/identity theft in the neighborhood (one from the Madison Park Blogger's household), one stolen vehicle (from the 2000 block of 43rd Avenue E. on April 16) and one car prowl (on the 1800 block of 43rd Avenue E. on April 24). There were also three reports of graffiti and two reports of thefts during April.

Looking Back at the First Quarter:  We were remiss in the first three months of the year in not reporting monthly on criminal activity (for which we apologize).  Here, however, are the statistics for reported crimes during the period:

Burglaries:  10
Car Thefts:  0
Car Break-ins:  13
Identify Thefts:  8

[Guide to map icons:  solid cars are car thefts, not-solid cars are car prowls, dollar signs are identity theft, dollar bills are thefts, spray-paint cans are property damage (usually graffiti) and starbursts are burglaries.]

December Police Blotter

A plethora of burglaries as the year ends

After several months during which there were few break-ins reported in the neighborhood, Madison Park, for reasons not entirely clear, experienced a veritable rash of such incidents in the final month of 2013: nine separate incidents.

The first break-in occurred at Bert's Red Apple on the first day of the month, when during the night two suspects approached front door on the store but were apparently scared off when a car drove by.  As captured on Bert's security camera, the suspects soon returned with a third person, all of them with towels or shirts over their faces. One of them then broke a glass panel in one of the doors; but for reasons unknown the suspects suddenly left the area, never to return (or at least not to this point). Technically this was a break-in attempt, since the store was not entered.

On December 3, an expensive bike was stolen from a secured-parking garage on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue E.  On December 9 on the 1600 block of 43rd Avenue E., someone gained entry to an apartment building and entered an apartment through a door which had been left ajar.  The victim had left her apartment to walk her dog and realizing that she had forgotten her keys called a close-by friend with a key to her apartment and asked the friend to go over an unlock the door so that she would be able to get in upon her return.  The suspect, however, got there before her.

On December 18 there was another smash-glass situation at a multi-family structure on the 1900 block of 42nd Avenue E.  The suspect(s) apparently gained access by trying to pry open a basement window, which shattered.  However, upon entering the basement the suspect(s) triggered the motion-detector system and were apparently scared off, leaving the premises with nothing stolen.  On December 19 at a multi-unit building on the 2000 block of 43rd Avenue E. resident noticed that the knob was broken off the front entrance door. Although the police were called and investigated, it was not evident that any interior storage lockers or mailboxes had been rifled.

On the day after Christmas, a house on the 1100 block of 38th Avenue E. was entered by suspects who kicked in the back door and "sacked" several rooms.  Among the items stolen were two hard drives, a camera tripod, and a Nikon camera.  The victims were apparently the house guests of the homeowners (who were away at the time), and the suspects mercifully did not steal the visitors' passports.  While in the house, the suspects attempted to pry open an upstairs safe with a crowbar; but when they couldn't get it open they rolled the safe down the stairs, causing "significant damage."  There were two other burglaries reported in the neighborhood in December, though the details were not immediately available to us.

During the month there was also one car theft (from the 2500 block on Canterbury Lane E. on December 28), and four car prowls (two on December 11 on the 2300 and 2000 blocks of 43rd Avenue E., one at 43rd Avenue E. and E. Howe St. on December 5, and one of the 2000 block of E. McGilvra Boulevard E. on December 28.)

[Map Key:  Starburst icons represent building/house break-ins, solid-car icons represent vehicle thefts, non-solid car icons represent car break-ins, and dollar-sign icons represent fraud, usually credit card or identity theft or both.]

November Police Blotter

Dramatic police action ends well

At about 8:00 pm on Saturday, November 30, multiple police vehicles descended on Madison Park, lights flashing and sirens blaring. The squad cars converged at the intersection of 43rd Avenue E. and E. Madison Street, police exiting their vehicles in anticipation of major action.  The officers believed that an armed and dangerous criminal suspect was on the loose in the area; so they had good reason for creating the dramatic nighttime scene, which was witnessed by numerous apartment dwellers, restaurant and bar patrons, and passers by who filled the sidewalks to watch the drama unfold. SPD had received a call reporting that a shooting had just taken place, the perpetrator had a gun, and he was walking out of his home to turn himself in.  The police discovered their suspect, and with guns drawn they apprehended him. He surrendered peaceably.  That was how the scene played out.

But there had been no crime, no victim, and therefore no suspect.  It was all a potentially lethal misunderstanding.

Since the incident, we have had several inquires from those who witnessed this police action and wondered what actually transpired.  Medic units had been called to the scene to attend the “suspect” and police later escorted the man from the area.

A relative of the “suspect” gave us the story, which we agreed to report without using any names.  The incident was the result of an hallucination by a man who is in hospice care at relative’s private residence. Either because of medication or toxins in his body, we are told, the man came to believe that he had shot someone. He called police to report the crime and gave his address to the dispatcher.  He apparently then left the residence to meet the police.  All of this was without his relative’s knowledge.

When the police apprehended him and he realized he had been experiencing an hallucination the police went to his home, where the relative was about to go out looking for him. With the help of his relative, however, officers quickly figured out the situation and, in the relative’s opinion, “reacted appropriately” given that the “suspect” had been acting bizarrely and holding an object in his hands that the police could not see clearly (it turned out to be a cell phone).  “They were “nice and respectful,” according to the relative.

The man is now back in hospice care at his relative’s home.  We were told that he had never exhibited this kind of delusional behavior before and that measures have been taken to ensure that this is a one-time occurrence.

Crimes of the Month

As detailed on the map above, November was a month in which there were a lot of car break-ins (the non-solid-car icons), a couple car thefts (solid-car icons), graffiti (the spray-can icons) and miscellaneous cases of fraud (the dollar sign icons), mail theft, and just plan theft (dollar-bill icons). Though not designated with icons on the map, the Edgewater Apartments experienced multiple break-ins of storage units on November 30, as well as another break-in on November 26 of a garage used for storing paint and materials, light bulbs and other maintenance items used by workers at the complex. Several thousand dollars worth of items were taken in each of these incidents.

September Police Blotter

Another hazing incident, but it was pretty quite otherwise

It was at about this time last year that police were called to the area near Madison Park's "Beaver Lodge Sanctuary" (at 37th Avenue E. and E. McGilvra) to investigate a hazing incident involving Garfield students. Although there were post-event admonishments and disciplinary actions by the school's principal after that incident, it became apparent this fall that those earlier attempts to change behavior did not have long-lasting impact on many students at Garfield. This year's incident, which occurred on the evening of September 27 near and on Foster Island, was bigger and more extreme.  We'll let the the principal, Ted Howard, do the story telling:

"I spent the afternoon with [SPD] Officer Radford and many other officers walking through the Arboretum.  One hundred or more Garfield students were participating in hazing incidents, drinking hard alcohol and beer.  Students were being paddled, had on diapers, eggs were being thrown at students and shoe polish was all over their body.  As students ran and scattered from the scene they caused  at least one,  maybe more car accidents due to running in front of cars.  I was also called a “Nigger” by a student and many other derogatory names."

This is front the principal's email to Garfield parents asking, "Do you know where your son or daughter is?"  He continues,

"I ask that question because I want you to know that we all have a responsibility to keep our kids safe.  We all work hard to make sure they learn life lessons and make better decisions. Tonight some of our students didn’t make good decisions.  If students were there to watch,  cause harm to another student or behave inappropriately this impacts the entire GHS community and puts the GHS community in a negative light."

Howard did more than just ask parents to get involved.  He suspended eleven students for up to 20 days for their behavior.  Nine of these have appealed their suspensions and two others were exonerated and their suspensions lifted.  The school district, according to one report, is developing "new strategies" to eliminate hazing at Garfield.  The existing ones, quite clearly, haven't quite worked.

*****

Meanwhile, crime in Madison Park was in it typical post-summer lull, though the victims probably didn't appreciate that fact.  There was one house break-in, which occurred on the 1200 block of 39th Avenue E. on the afternoon of September 16.  In that incident the victims called police to report that one of them had been in the kitchen of their house when he heard a noise in the living room.  He went to investigate and discovered a black male suspect who had opened an outside door and was about to enter the residence.  The suspect claiming to be looking for a friend but promptly fled the scene though the victim's backyard and ran down the alley to his vehicle, a maroon-colored Chevy Impala, which was parked at E.Lee St. Although the police arrived on the scene quickly, they were unable to track the vehicle, which had fled westbound "at a high rate of speed."  Both victims, one of whom had engaged in a chase of the suspect, said they got a good look at him and would be able to identify him if they saw him again. Interestingly, one of the victims of this break-in had previously had her purse stolen in a car prowl and was advised by police (after the home break-in) that a suspect had been arrested who was in possession of her stolen credit cards.  The suspect in that case, however, had been booked and released before officers could question him about the break-in at the victim's house.  The SPD was, presumably, planning to follow up.

There were also three car prowls reported in the neighborhood during September: one on the 3300 block of E. Shore Drive in Broadmoor on September 7, one on the 3800 block of E. Highland Drive on September 28, and one of the 500 block of Hillside Drive E. on September 17.  Car thefts took place, surprisingly, on the 2300 block of Broadmoor Drive E. on September 1, and on the 2400 block of 38th Avenue E. on September 5. There were also several incidents of credit card fraud (the dollar-sign icons on the map above) and thefts from buildings (the dollar-bill icons).

It didn't happen here (a monthly feature):

"Bizarre-acting male" in "excited delirium" arrest

By Detective Rene Witt (from SPD Blog)

Two officers were transported to [Harborview Medical Center] for minor injuries, following an assault. On 9/6/13, just shortly after 11:00 p.m., officers were on routine patrol when an unidentified citizen flagged them down in the 1100 block of E. Union St.  He pointed out a white male and told the officers that the man was “acting crazy”. At that time the “crazy acting” man approached two people on the street and confronted them. The officers saw the suspect throw a punch at the people. The officers intervened and the suspect took a fighting stance. The officers attempted to arrest the man and he began to fight and throw punches at the officers.  The officers were able to arrest him.  All three went to HMC for treatment. One officer suffered a sore right knee and a cut on his right hand.  The second officer suffered a bruised right hand.

Here's what the incident report had to say about the 31-year-old suspect:

"Based on [the suspect's] behavior, i.e. bizarre, violent, paranoia/hallucination, profuse sweating, disturbance in breathing pattern, superhuman strength, shouting, screaming, keening (animal noises), officers believed he was possibly showing symptoms of excited delirium and having a medical emergency."  According to the Capitol Hill blog, the suspect, after a stint at Harborview, was arraigned, shown to have an extensive criminal record, was wanted on an escape warrant, and was held on $50,000 bail.

August police blotter

There were three residential burglaries, two stolen cars, three car prowls, and one case of shoplifting reported in Madison Park during August.

A brazen forced-entry burglary occurred on August 7 at a home on the 1400 block of 37th Avenue E. The homeowners reported that the perpetrator(s) had kicked in their front door, gained entry to the house, and stole an Xbox video game console, MacBook laptop, and a Wacom interactive pen display. The victims were not on the premises when the incident occurred during the afternoon. There were no fingerprints found at the scene, but there was a shoe print on the glass of the kicked-in door.

On August 30, a residence on the 1200 block of 39th Avenue E. was burglarized sometime between 9 am and noon. The victim told police she had returned to her home to discover that several rooms had been rifled and that many items had been stolen, including a Mac laptop, an iPad Mini, and four cell phones.  It appeared that the burglar(s) may have made a hasty exit from the house, perhaps upon the homeowner's return.  Several pieces of silverware, taken from a drawer, were stacked neatly on the kitchen counter top and a pillowcase filled with expensive perfume was left behind. Several expensive handbags and purses, as well as some costume jewelry, were also stolen from the house.  The victim reported that the doors to the house were normally locked and that she had recently lost a spare key. There was no evidence of a forced entry.

Also on August 30, homeowners on the 3300 block of E. Ford Street returned to their house at about 6 pm and discovered their back door was wide open and several items were missing from the premises, including a Kindle, a TV, two Coach purses, some costume jewelry and a pair of reading glasses.  Also missing: one of the victims' passport.

Cars were stolen on August 23 at 41st Avenue E. and E. Garfield Street and on August 31 on the 2300 block of Broadmoor Drive E.  Cars were broken into on August 1 on the 4200 block of E. Lynn St., on August 24 on the 2300 block of 42nd Avenue E. and on August 30 on the 1900 block of 38th Avenue E.

In addition, there were several cases of damaged property and a shoplifting incident at a store on the 4200 block of E. Madison on August 26.

"It Didn't Happen Here" Crime of the Month:

Woman Arrested After Spraying Baby With Soy Sauce

by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee (Seattle Police Blotter)

Officers carted off a woman from an International District restaurant Saturday [August 24] after she sprayed a baby with soy sauce and doused other patrons with chocolate milk, ruining what had undoubtedly been a perfectly delightful afternoon Dim Sum.

Just before 1 pm, officers were called to the Dim Sum King at 6th and Jackson after a 52-year-old woman walked into the restaurant, told everyone to “go back to China,” began flipping over guests’ plates, spit on a man and then squirted him and his baby with soy sauce.

One of the victims called 911, and officers pulled up to the restaurant to find several people standing outside, covered in food. When officers contacted the suspect—who was carrying a container of chocolate milk—she became very animated and slapped an officer in the arm. Officers then arrested the woman and booked her for harassment and assault on an officer.

July Police Blotter

It didn't happen here

Earlier this summer, we were taken a little bit to task by a reader who with gentle good humor commented that this blog's neighborhood crime reports are becoming rather dull. She wondered, "Can't you do something to spice them up a bit?"  Well, maybe it's us; but it's just possible that Madison Park has not been subjected to the kinds of criminal activity that  make for interesting reading.

Crime does seem to be on the wane, with only four house break-ins reported in the neighborhood so far this summer and the same number of car prowls. There were almost twice as many house break-ins and car prowls for the same June/July period last year (seven incidents in each case).  And by this point last summer we had already reported an attempted car jacking plus that weird man-with-a-gun incident near Bush School.  This year, no crimes worthy of headline treatment.  But what makes for dull reading also makes for a relatively crime-free neighborhood in which to live.

In July there were only two reported home burglaries in Madison Park. The first occurred on July 1 on the1800 block of Broadmoor Drive. E. The investigating officer found no signs of a forced entry when called to the house by the victim, who had arrived home to discover that items had been removed from the residence, including a Tag Hauer watch and an iPad.  The burglar, it seems, did not need to force entry due to the fact that a window had been left open in the house "because of the heat."  There was a home-security system, but it had not been turned on at the time of the incident, according to the police report.

The second incident occurred on July 24 on the 3700 block of E. Prospect St.  The victim, who was at home at the time, reported that he had seen the crime in progress on his home-security video system. The suspects had exited a silver Subaru, had walked onto the property, and had taken two gas cans and a leaf blower from an unlocked exterior storage room of the residence.  The suspects then placed the items into their vehicle. The homeowner "exited his home and confronted the suspects," but they sped off "in an unknown direction of travel."  Unfortunately, the homeowner was unable to retrieve the surveillance footage showing the crime as it happened, though he did give the investigating officer the suspect's vehicle license number.

The July car break-ins occurred on July 8 on the 1100 block of 33rd Avenue E. and on July 31 on the 4200 block of E. Lynn Street.  There were also two vehicle thefts reported during the month: a truck was stolen on July 27 from the 2400 block of 42nd Avenue E. and a car was stolen three days later from the 2400 block of 43rd Avenue E.

Now for comparative purposes (and perhaps we'll make this a regular feature), here is a report of a recent crime occurring in a nearby neighborhood, Capitol Hill, as provided by the SPD Blotter:

Man arrested for biting off another man’s ear

by Detective Renee Witt 

Officers searched for a man’s missing ear with negative results. Last night just shortly before 10:00 p.m., officers responded to an assault call in the 100 block of 10 Av E.  According to the victim the suspect walked into his fenced yard and urinated. 

The victim asked the suspect to leave when the suspect’s girlfriend came over and also told the suspect that they should leave. The suspect then began assaulting his girlfriend.  The victim pushed the suspect and tried to stop him when the suspect attacked him. During the attack the suspect bit a large portion of the victim’s left ear off.

The suspect then left the area.  Officers arrived and conducted a search for the suspect. Officers found him near Cal Anderson Park. The man’s mouth was covered in blood. He was contacted and placed under arrest without incident.   The 21-year-old suspect was booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Assault. The 23 year-old male victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. 

Officers asked the suspect if he swallowed the victim’s ear. He would not answer but looked up and smiled.  An area check for the victim’s ear was negative.

[Thanks to the Capitol Hill Seattle blog for pointing out this incident.]

June Police Blotter

Before we get into an overview of June's criminal activity, here's something we think readers may be interested in.  It comes from Madison Park resident Beth Gold:

"On July 1, my Toyota land cruiser was hit by a White Jetta on the corner of 41st and E. Mcgilvra Blvd. and it was a hit and run.  Amazingly, despite the significant damage to my land cruiser, the Jetta was able to drive away. According to several witnesses, they saw a young blonde female driver drive onto the roundabout on 41st, then on the sidewalk, endangering pedestrians for a ways, and then left.  Unfortunately, none of the witnesses managed to get any part of a license plate.  The police were called and came to my house and they said that a few cars were sent out to look for her, to no avail.

My neighbor has a video camera and I have the video of the accident but it is impossible to see the tag. I called the police and told them there is a clear shot of the tag on the car, but the photo needs to be enlarged and cleared up to be able to see it.  The police told me that if I could do that, it would be great and I should feel free to send that information to them to add to the file!!  I told him that I thought the police were supposed to do that and he chuckled and said 'no.'  Oops, my mistake, I thought the police cared about solving crimes….."

Beth asked us to talk to the police about this, which we did.  According to the SPD information officer, a no-injury hit and run without a substantial amount of property damage would probably not warrant a major investigation by the department since there are insufficient personnel resources.  Not knowing the details of the case, he suggested that Beth again raise the video issue with the original investigating officer just to be sure about what was communicated.  He also suggested that Beth contact her insurance company and have it take over investigating the case since it would have a financial incentive to do so. We hope Beth will let us know if any of this works!

Here's the rundown of what happened in Madison Park in June on the crime front:

There were a couple of house break-ins, one occurring in the early morning of June 4 on the 1500 block of Shenandoah Drive E. in Broadmoor. In that incident someone entered a home through an open garage door and lifted a laptop and some camera equipment from an office. The suspect, however, made enough noise to awake the homeowner, who saw the intruder run down the hallway and escape through the front door.  She called the police, who set up a containment perimeter and put a K-9 on the trail of the suspect, unfortunately without result.  No prints were found at the scene.

In the second break-in incident, which happened June 22,  a victim reported to police that his wallet and checkbook had been stolen from his office on the 4200 block of E. Madison St. A later call to his bank elicited the information that his credit card had been used for multiple purchases. He was unsure of whether the back door to the business had been left open or not, though customers, he told police, are not allowed in that area.

There were several acts of theft that occurred during the month.  Narcotics were taken from the Madison Park Veterinary Hospital sometime around June 15 in what was apparently an inside job.  A former employee may have been responsible and a detective has been assigned to this case, formally classified as "embezzlement."  On June 15 a baby stroller was stolen from the carport of a house on the 1800 block of Broadmoor Drive E., and on June 4 there was a rather strange report of a cell phone theft, which is indicated on the map above as occurring on the 2400 block of 41st Avenue E.  However, the actual theft (if there was one) happened in the Arboretum.  A police officer on regular patrol noticed a man sitting and crying on a speed bump in the Edgewater Apartment complex.  The officer immediately recognized the man as someone that had been released earlier in the day from the precinct station after his earlier arrest in the Arboretum for an unspecified offense.  The officer asked the man why he was sitting on the speed bump crying and learned that when the victim had been taken into custody he was so upset that he had left his cellphone behind.  When he went to look for it after he was released, the phone was gone.  The officer wrote up a report and provided a case number to the victim.

There was one vehicle theft during the month, which occurred on the 600 block of 32nd Avenue E. on June 4, and two vehicle break-ins, one on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue E. on June 18 and one near the Shell station on June 22.  The yellow icon with the "x" marked bottle on the map above shows the location (the 900 block of McGilvra Boulevard E.) of a "liquor law violation" occurring on June 21.

May Police Blotter

Senseless destruction is a constant in the neighborhood

Though we don't discuss the subject very often in our monthly crime reporting, acts of vandalism occur fairly frequently in Madison Park. This past month an incident at McGilvra Elementary School brought some added attention to the problem, however.  As reported in the Madison Park Times, vandals have trashed the School's garden on a couple of occasions this spring, including an incident on May 6 when a bird feeder was knocked over, a picnic bench was broken, and a retaining wall was tagged.  Property destruction  (indicated by spray-paint-can icons on the map above) happens in Madison Park virtually every month, with many of these incidents going unreported to the police.

Typical of these crimes is graffiti on signs, trees, walls, and garbage containers. An incident on May 29 at a condo building on the 2400 block of 43rd Avenue E. is a case in point: everything on the list was apparently tagged except for the dumpster. The crime map shows only incidents where police were called and there was an investigation.  Incidents reported to police online (which we will discuss in more detail below) do not get recorded on the official crime map, so there are probably more property-damage reports each month than those we officially know of.  Last year the bathhouse's notice board was trashed on a couple of occasions, though public property is hardly the sole target of neighborhood vandals.  Fences seem to be an inviting place for disseminating graffiti (if, indeed, graffiti can be considered something that's disseminated).

Last month there were five neighborhood vehicle break-ins investigated by the SPD: on the 3100 block of E. Madison St. on May 3, on the 2100 block of 40th Avenue E. on May 13, on the 1600 block of 39th Avenue E. on May 20 (two incidents), and on the 2400 block of 42nd Avenue E. on May 22.  No vehicles were reported stolen.

There was only one reported house break-in during the period.  On May 7 a home on the 1100 block of 36th Avenue E. was burglarized.  The homeowner reported that when she entered her computer room she noticed that her desktop computer was missing, along with her iPad and its case.  It appeared that the perpetrator had entered the house through an open window, making use of a lawn chair which was found propped against the house.  Fingerprints and a palm print were lifted from the crime scene.

There were also two found-property reports duirng May.  In one incident on May 17 a homeowner reported to police that she a had discovered a yellow and black Huffy mountain bike a her house.  The police report notes that the serial number did not match any bicycles reported stolen.  In a second incident, on May 3, a passerby noticed that there was a red package in the street at 33rd and E. Madison Street.  Police determined that it was US Postal Service bag and retrieved it.

A note about online crime reporting: SPD provides a fast, convenient way for victims to report property crimes by utilizing a website (http://www.seattle.gov/police/records/default.htm) rather than calling 911. The advantage of this method of reporting is that a case number is assigned to the incident (one that can be used for insurance purposes) and the victim doesn't have to wait around for a police officer to arrive at the scene to take a statement. This system should not be used for reporting any crime in progress or any incident where the police should evaluate the crime scene.  It is available for reporting property crimes only.

April Police Blotter

Madison Park: crime hotspot?

To look at the April crime map, which shows multiple reports of harassment (the red icons with the exclamation points) and a couple of arrests (those blue icons with the handcuffs), you might think that the neighborhood is suffering a significant escalation of criminal activity.  Fortunately, you'd be wrong.

While there was a fair number of unlikely and not-to-serious situations that resulted in police reports last month,  the house and car break-in activity we typically report on was almost non-existent during the period. Or, rather, it was almost non-existent from the standpoint of reports to the police. As we'll discuss below, some of this petty criminal activity clearly took place without the victims bothering to make a formal report.

First, however, let's start with those cases of harassment. One of these, according to Seattle Police's public information officer, is simply "too convoluted" to be worth going into.  Suffice it to say that it was labelled "harassment" in the report, but was apparently something else. That incident occurred on April 4 on the 1000 block of 32nd Avenue E. The second incident, which happened on April 9, involved a ten-year-old fourth-grade student at McGilvra Elementary School who called another student "names."  Although the school's principal had been notified of the incident, the victim's parents decided to report the case to the police as well. The final incident, reported on April 9, involved activity that had been taking place since September 2012.  A "specialty store" owner on the 4100 block of E. Madison St. reported that an employee was being bothered by a customer who continued to come into the store to talk to the employee but did not buy anything. The owner reported having called the customer to ask that he not return to the store and reported the situation to the police so that it was documented.

That's what we know about the harassments.  Nothing too terrorizing.

The arrest situation during April a bit unusual for the neighborhood, which sees very few cases where police actually haul someone away.  On April 11, at the request of the Attorney General of Michigan, an SPD unit arrested a man living on the 2300 block of McGilvra Boulevard E. on a felony-arrest warrant.  The man was wanted for non-payment of child support. He was taken into custody without incident.  On April 13, a police officer sitting in a parked car on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue E. happened to spot a suspect he identified as wanted on a DUI warrant.  He took the suspect into custody without incident.

Unusually for this time of year, there was only one reported burglary.  That happened on the 1200 block of 39th Avenue E. on April 20.  The victim reported that a Sony flat screen TV and an Apple TV device had been stolen from his garage.  No force was used to enter the garage, and the victim admitted that the door may have been left unlocked.

While there were no car break-ins reported in April, anecdotal evidence indicates that there were many cases of car prowls, often involving cars left unlocked. Wallets, coats, electronic devices, and spare change were among the objects lifted. The thefts appeared to be the work of kids roaming the streets at night. No one bothered to report these crimes to the police, however.  This may be a mistake on the victims' part.  As we're reported many times, SPD patrolling patterns are determined in part by the number of criminal incidents reported in the various neighborhoods of each precinct. The failure to report crimes happening in Madison Park could have the consequence of lowering the overall policing of our community.  Something to think about next time you are victimized.

[The dollar-sign icons on the map above represent incidents of fraud, generally reports of identity theft or credit card fraud, and the icons showing a can of spray paint represent incidents of property damage, generally graffiti. Click on map to enlarge.]

March Police Blotter

A dull month on the crime front

The level of criminal activity in the neighborhood, judging by the March police reports, remains relatively insignificant both in terms of the severity and the frequency of the incidents. Not that we can expect this respite to continue indefinitely, since we're obviously in the annual pre-summer criminal doldrums. When the warm weather returns we can expect the activity level to pick up. It's a cycle that we see repeated every year.

So while it makes for rather dull reading, let's enjoy the fact that there's no really interesting crime story to relate for this period. Here's what did transpire:

There were three actual burglaries and one attempted burglary during the month. The first incident occurred sometime between March 4 and 7 on the 600 block of 33rd Avenue E. On the 7th, a resident of a multi-unit building discovered that the padlocks had been removed from three separate storage lockers in the building's storage area. His locker was missing a set of golf clubs, but it was not known at the time of the police report what might have been missing from the two other lockers.

There was a burglary on March 20 on the 3200 block of E. Mercer St.  The homeowner reported that the wind had apparently blown a door open, allowing the perpetrator to enter the house without having to bother breaking in.  Several items were stolen from the premises. The police report cryptically notes that the door latch was likely insufficient to hold the door securely in heavy winds.

Another burglary occurred on the 2500 block of Canterbury Lane E. on March 23.  In that incident a resident of Canterbury Shores was awakened at 3:40 am by a loud noise in the office of the building manager.  Thinking that the manager may have needed some assistance, the resident went to the office where he found that the door was closed but there was definitely movement inside.  When he called out to ask if there was a problem the door was opened by a man wearing a scarf who then exited the office, followed by another individual (possibly female) wearing a hoodie.  Neither suspect spoke to the resident.  The building manager later confirmed that there were items missing from the office, but the police discovered no useable fingerprints.

On March 20 on the 2300 block of McGilvra Boulevard E. a resident discovered that while she was out walking her dog, someone had attempted to enter her house through a sliding window but had apparently been unable to get the window open wide enough to gain entry.  There was no property damage.

There were three car break-ins during the month, the first occurring on March 3 on the 500 block of 36th Avenue E., the second on March 28 on the 1000 block of 39th Avenue E., and the third on March 29 on the 2000 block of McGilvra Boulevard.

Finally, there were two cases of harassment reported.  In one of the incidents a Madison Park resident reported that she had received repeated unwanted phone calls from her former boss complaining about her having quit her job and demanding an explanation. The other incident involved an argument between a man, his "estranged girlfriend" and her mother.  Apparently during the long period before the breakup the man had been living in the apartment without the mother's knowledge, even though she was actually paying the monthly rent on the unit.  The ex-boyfriend, it seems, felt that he still had some rights associated with his tenancy, a position to which that the mother and daughter took exception. 9-1-1 was called at some point, though the situation was resolved without anyone being detained by police.

And that (other than one unsuccessful case of prescription forgery at the pharmacy) pretty well sums up the crime activity for March.  As we said, pretty dull reading (but certainly not dull enough for the victims).

February Police Blotter

Another quiet month in the neighborhood

For reasons unknown (and in order not to jinx the situation we won't speculate) criminal activity--at least as reported to the police--was virtually non-exist during the month of February.  Here's the rundown:  one house break-in, one car prowl, two incidents of credit card fraud or theft, and one threatening situation.

The lone reported house break-in occurred on February 4 on the 1900 block of Parkside Drive in Broadmoor.  The homeowner reported to police that during the previous night, while she and her family were at home, someone had apparently entered the house and removed her wallet from her purse, which she had left in the kitchen. She admitted that she may have left the kitchen door open, and police found no evidence of a forced entry.

The red exclamation-point icon on the map above designates the location of the threat incident that occurred at the Madison Park Chase branch on February 21. According to the police report, that morning a customer had became irate when he learned that his sibling, with whom he had a joint bank account at Chase, had transferred money out of the account.  The customer reportedly threatened the bank employee who had given him this news, stating that he planned to return to the branch with a gun. The customer did not, in fact, follow through on this threat, which Chase reported to police seven hours later just to put the incident on record.

January Police Blotter

Crime takes a holiday

For the first time in the almost four years that we've been covering neighborhood crime, we can report a month in which there were apparently no house break-ins and zero car thefts.  Madison Park was virtually free of significant criminal activity during January. That assumes that the Seattle Police map, above, accurately reflects the crimes reported for the period. Let's enjoy our sense of relative security while we can.

The map does not reflect that alleged hit-and-run crime that happened in January. The story of the young Broadmoor resident who claimed to have been the victim and later was arrested as the probable perpetrator, did not rise to the level of being icon worthy, in the opinion of the SPD. Nevertheless, it was a story that attracted a lot of notice. It was one of the most-read stories in the history of the blog (read by almost 1200 people) and was later 'reprinted' in the Madison Park Times.  

The remaining criminal activity during the month seems pretty mundane in comparison (unless, of course, you were the victim).  There were two cases of credit-card fraud reported by Madison Park residents (represented by the dollar-sign icons on the map), and there were four reported incidents of car break-ins (there is never a month without several). These car prowls occurred on January 17 on the 3100 block of E. Madison St., on January 21 on the 2000 block of McGilvra Boulevard E., on January 22 on the 4000 block of E. Madison St., and on January 25 back again on the 3100 block of E. Madison St.

There was also one case of theft reported (that on the 1000 block of 32nd Avenue E.) and two cases of property damage (the spray-paint-can icons). That blue icon marks the spot where there was a case of illegal dumping at someone's residence on the 2000 block of 43rd Avenue E.

November/December Police Blotter

Criminal Activity in November

Relatively quiet (except from the victims' perspective)

The year ended on a pretty typical note crime-wise, with the number of incidents reported to the police in November and December significantly lower than the levels Madison Park generally experiences during the summer months. 

But that doesn't mean that cars were not stolen, houses were not broken into or that the kinds of weird and stupid criminal behavior that often occurs in Madison Park took a holiday as last year ended.  Here's the rundown:


Dine and Dash:  A not-too-bright scofflaw ordered, ate and then proceeded not to pay for the most expensive item on the lunch menu at Cafe Parco one afternoon in late December. The well-fed diner told the waiter that he didn't have to pay because God had told him the meal was free. The police took a dim view of the situation when they arrived on the scene. A quick background check on the suspect disclosed the fact that he was wanted under three separate felony warrants (one for escape from custody) as well as one misdemeanor warrant. The unrepentant diner was swiftly transported to the precinct station.

Harassments:  A couple of days later, a patron of The Attic, described as a large black male wearing a red Santa hat, reportedly threatened to shoot the bartender.  The police had no trouble locating the suspect at 41st Avenue E. and E. Madison St., but the clearly inebriated man resisted arrest and ultimately had to be physically restrained.  He was positively identified by the bartender (just in case there was a separate red-Santa-hat-wearing guy running around the neighborhood threatening people) and taken off to jail.

There were also a couple of harassment incidents in November, one involving telephone threats to a dental office and one involving an altercation between condo owners which resulted in threats.

Burglaries:  There were four house break-ins reported in the two-month period, a couple of them involving rather brazen behavior on the part of the perpetrators.

Sometime before November 25, a home on the 4000 block of E. Newton St. was broken into while the owners were on vacation. Upon their return that day they discovered their patio door ajar and after entering the house beheld a scene of “disarray,” according to the police report. Each room had been ransacked. A knife and “pry tool” were found in the house that did not belong to the victims, and there was evidence on an exterior door of an attempted entry .

On November 26, a home on the 2100 block of 38th Avenue E. was the subject of a forced-entry burglary sometime between 7 am and 6 pm, when the victim arrived back home and found that the back sliding door’s locking mechanism had been broken and the house quite obviously had been searched. Missing were an expensive watch, a .45” pistol, miscellaneous jewelry, a Bose stereo system, and the victim’s passport.

On November 29, at a home on the 500 block of 36th Avenue E., the owner came downstairs to go for a run at 6 am and noticed that an interior door leading to the garage was unlocked.  Investigating, she discovered that the garage door was partially opened. It was later discovered that her husband’s wallet and her purse had been stolen from the house.  Earlier that morning, at around 4 am, the homeowners had heard their dogs barking and had investigated without noticing anything amiss. Apparently the suspect left the house at that point since there was no evidence that there had been any incursion past the kitchen, where the dogs had been sleeping.  Unfortunately, both the wallet and purse had been left in the kitchen area.

On December 13 at about 4:30 am, several police cars were dispatched to the Washington Park neighborhood to investigate a report that there was a “suspicious two-door” car parked next to a vacant house in the 3400 block of E. Valley St.  The caller had told the police dispatcher of having seen two men exit the car and proceed to walk about the area (presumably, the men were as “suspicious” as their car.) The police, however, did not discover any cars or people in the area who seemed suspicious.

Probably not coincidentally, at 7:15 that morning, a report was received that a house just two blocks away from the E. Valley St. location (on the 1000 block of 37th Avenue E.) had been broken into earlier.  A patio door had apparently been drilled into just above the lock and the door opened without the homeowner hearing a sound.  The hole may have been used to slip some wire over the deadbolt, allowing entry.  Laptops, iPads, and cellphones were lifted from the inside area just a few feet from the patio door.  The victim later reported to neighbors that a purse was also stolen and the thief or thieves were sophisticated (since the GPS locators on both the iPads and the cellphones were apparently disabled after their removal from the premises).

On December 29 the dry cleaners at 3100 E. Madison St. reported that their front door had been shattered during the previous night and the store's cash box had been removed (although there had been no money in it).

Criminal Activity in December

Car prowls: Incidents occurred on the 2400 block of 41st Avenue E. on November 17, the 500 block of Hillside Drive E. on December 3, the 3800 block of E. Blaine St. on December 5, the 1600 block of 42nd Avenue E. on December 10, the 3100 block of E. Madison St. on December 21.

Car thefts:  Cars were stolen from the 3200 block of E. Madison St. on November 6, and from the intersection of 43rd Avenue E. and E. Madison St. on November 9.

Incidentally, on the map above that weird black-on-blue icon with the bolt of lightening on it (or whatever it is) represents a "reckless burning" incident which took place in the Arboretum on the day after Christmas (maybe someone disposing of Christmas wrapping paper?).

[Starburst icons show location of burglaries, car icons show incidents of car break-ins (or in the case of solid cars, a theft) and the red icons with the exclamation points show incidents of harassment.]

October Police Blotter

Precipitous decline in crime comes with the rain

There's usually a correlation between the end of summer and a leveling off of crime in Madison Park, so it's not surprising--given that the weather definitely moved into a post-summer phase--that October was a month of very low criminal activity. There was only one house break-in and just one car prowl reported during the month, and not a single car theft occurred.

One of the police reports for October involves an incident that turned out not to be particularly criminal, if at all.  On Friday the 26th, at about 4 pm, police were called to investigate a disturbance at the intersection of 38th Avenue E. and E. McGilvra Street (denoted by the blue mask icon on the map above). It's the entrance to the road-end park known to locals as the Beaver Lodge Sanctuary.  The tree-lined path leading to the water is in a secluded section of the neighborhood, just north of Canterbury. Apparently, according to a Seattle Police Department spokesperson, this area is a hotspot for teen parties.

Officers arrived on the scene and discovered a number of teenagers dressed in purple, many of whom immediately scattered into the surrounding streets. One of the officers, however, recognized the situation for what it was: a hazing incident involving Garfield High students (upperclassmen harassing underclassmen).  The principal of the School was called, and both he and his vice principal soon arrived.  Parents were eventually brought in and the students were then shuttled off to their homes.  While no criminal charges were made, according to the SPD, Garfield may have later imposed sanctions on the students involved.

McGilvra and 38th: a teen hotspot. Who knew?

Earlier in the month, on Sunday, October 21, police received a late-morning report of a suspicious character peering into windows of houses on the 600 block of Lake Washington Boulevard E.  An officer was dispatched and he soon spotted the suspect (described as a white male wearing a trench coat and carrying a camouflage handbag). The officer approached the man, who appeared visibly agitated. When the officer asked the suspect if he was carrying a weapon, the man admitted he was. The weapon turned out to be a three-and-a-half-inch fixed-blade knife which was concealed in a sheath attached to a waistband in the "small of the suspect's back."  He was immediately arrested for possession of an unlawful weapon.  Although police tried to track down witnesses who may have seen the man peering into houses, no one was located to corroborate that story.

There was a minor "non-aggrevated" assault (denoted by the red fist icon, above) at our neighborhood Starbucks on October 12.  A man bumped into one of our local bank branch managers a couple of times while the manager was waiting in line to order his coffee. The perpetrator is apparently well known to personnel of the bank in question. He apparently has a habit of yelling "racist" and other impolite terms at the manager when he sees him. On this occasion the man left the Starbucks before police could be called (though a report was later filed).

Finally, the one reported neighborhood break-in took place over the weekend of October 20/21 on the 3700 block of E. Prospect Street. The homeowner reported that there had been a forced entry of his detached garage and that two bikes, worth about $750 each, had been stolen from their bike racks.

[Dollar-sign icons on the above map represent reports of credit card fraud.]

September Police Blotter

Pretty quiet in the neighborhood last month

September was a relatively calm period crime-wise, with "only" three reported home break-ins and a just single car prowl in Madison Park proper during the month.

The car break-in occurred on the 2200 block of 40th Avenue E. on September 11. There was also a car theft on the 3100 block of E. Madison St. on September 16.

The first house break-in occurred on around 5:30 am on September 12 at a residence on the 1200 block of 41st Avenue E.  The "non-forced" burglary apparently happened while the residents were asleep.  Upon awakening they discovered that four pieces of silver were missing from the living room area and that a computer bag from the house was sitting next to an exterior patio door. Though a bag of costume jewelry had been left behind by the intruder(s), the computer bag had been rifled and the multi-carat yellow diamond that it for some reason had contained was missing. The bag's other contents, business papers, a checkbook, and pens were, however left behind.  The burglar(s) apparently entered the house through an unlocked door.

Another break-in took place during the night of September 17 on the 2000 block of Parkside Drive E. in Broadmoor. That incident also apparently resulted from an unlocked door.  While the family slept someone entered the home and removed a laptop, scanner, iPad, iPhone, gift cards and an ID badge.  A backpack was also taken, apparently used to carry the stolen items.

There was also a burglary on the 1600 block of 39th Avenue E. on September 20.  From the police report: "Victim stated she and [a friend] were sitting on the front porch when someone climbed up onto the second floor balcony, entered the kitchen through open French doors, and stole the victim's purse."  In addition to the missing cash, the victim lost her car keys, drivers license, and credit cards.

The red fist icon on the map above marks the site (4200 block of E. Madison St.) where on September 5 there was an assault that resulted in a police response. Boiling the police report down to its essentials: an apparently intoxicated 40ish man poured a glass of water over the head of a female patron of the Red Onion.  Another man intervened, an altercation took place, and police were called. On arrival they arrested the suspect, discovering that he had a gun in his possession. Though he had a valid concealed-weapon permit, guns are not allowed in bars. The man was later charged with the gun violation.

As the press spokesman for the Seattle Police noted when relating this incident to us, "It's probably not a good idea to attract the attention of the police while you're violating the law."

[Star-burst icons on the map above are the sites of house break-ins, solid cars are car thefts, unsolid cars are car prowls, dollar bills are cases of theft or found property, and black masks are disturbances. The one such disturbance shown on the map turned out to be a minor incident once the police investigated.]

August Police Blotter

But first, this cautionary tale...

A Madison Park resident living in Canterbury recently sent us an email describing a criminal incident which fortunately did not result in a break-in, but which nevertheless demonstrates both the brazenness of some criminals and the need for homeowners to be ever vigilant:

"I happened to be up at 3:45 am and walked through the house in the dark, noticed our motion sensing light on the side of the garage was on. Then I noticed a figure looking into our playroom off the garage with a small flashlight, obviously scoping the room for valuable stuff. I was amazed that the guy was not even fazed by the motion floodlights, and the area is pretty well lit to begin with. He likely knew we were home since he walked past our car on the way through the gate. My phone was in a spot where he would see me pick it up, so I banged on the window to scare him off.  Even that didn’t seem to bother him too much. He turned to look and then rather calmly walked back out the way he came in the yard. I called police and they arrived quickly, but no sign of the prowler.

This prowler seemed to fit the profile of a guy that wouldn’t hesitate to enter an open door or window even when someone is home. I know there have been at least two other recent burglaries in Canterbury while the owners were home. I hope it’s not a trend." 

Amen to that.

August burglaries (many of which could have been prevented)

As is typical for this time of year, there was a fair number (seven, actually) of burglaries reported during August (shown as star-burst icons on the map above). Several of these incidents were the result of windows and doors being left open or unsecured.

In one such incident, which occurred during the night of August 18/19, someone boldly reached through an open window at a home on the 1600 block of 39th Avenue E. and removed a laptop computer which was sitting conveniently within reach. The family was at home and sleeping at the time of the incident, and it does not appear that the house was entered by the suspect.

Sometime during the night of August 2/3, while a family on the 3700 block of E. Prospect St. was at home and sleeping, someone entered the house and left it without disturbing the sleepers. The next morning it was discovered that the back patio door of the residence was wide open, but a search of the house turned up nothing missing. There was no evidence of a forced entry, but the victims stated to police that they couldn't remember whether they had bothered to secure either their patio door or their front door when they retired for the night. During the day, when one of the victims went to get her wallet out of her purse, she discovered that the wallet (with its cash, driver license, house key, and multiple credit cards) was missing.

Also on August 2, someone perhaps known to the victim entered her residence through an entry point (unspecified in the police report) that the victim had left open.  She discovered that there had been an intrusion when she discovered an unknown key on her interior stairs and then investigated to see if there had been anything stolen from the home.  Her social security card and a check from her checkbook were both missing. She told police she was suspicious of a person she had recently met who had recently been evicted from his condo and had later left several notes for her on her door.  Police contacted the suspect, who denied any involvement.  The suspect admitted that he had gone to the victim's house and had perceived that the door had been left unlocked but had not entered the premises.  The police officer told the suspect that the victim "did not want to have any more contact with him and he stated that he understood."

Sometime between August 27 and 28, a resident of the 1200 block of 42nd Avenue E. was the victim of the theft of her computer's hard drive from the detached den of her home.  In spite of the fact that she had had "a number" of break-ins in her garage and den area over the previous couple of months, she had not bothered to lock to the door of her den, and there was no evidence of a forced entry.

Another break-in occurred on August 29.  A condo owner on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue. E. reported that his storage unit had been rifled and multiple items stolen.  He said that the condo doorway was probably left ajar and that the unknown suspect had probably entered through the door and gained entry to the unlocked storage area, where the victim's unlocked storage locker was located.  Later that day, the victim reported that a neighbor had called him to say that some of the victim's papers and one of his bicycles had been dumped onto her property. Although he recovered these items, his stolen Raleigh bike was not found.

One burglary, however, probably didn't involve an unsecured door or window.  On August 15, an apartment dweller on the 1900 block of 42nd Avenue E. reported to police that sometime between July 17 and the date of her report someone had gained entry to her residence and stolen a drawstring bag that contained valuable jewelry.  Police, however, found no evidence of a forced entry, and the victim reported that no one had a key to the unit other than she and her daughter.  The police report noted key bumping as a possible explanation for how the apartment may have been entered (though there was no direct evidence in this case that this is what happened). It was a new term to us, so we Googled it and got an explanation from Wikipedia.  Also known as lock bumping, the technique involves the creation and use of a bump key which works as a kind of master key for all locks of a similar type.  This is perfectly legal when used by locksmiths to disassemble a lock for which they do not have the exact key, but is obviously criminal when used to gain unauthorized entry to properties.

Finally, here's another cautionary tale, as provided by the police report of an incident that occurred on the 400 block of 39th Avenue E. on the night of August 17/18:

Sometime during the prior night, the suspect(s) gained entry to the victim's vehicle...parked in the driveway on the South side of the home. The suspect(s) located the garage door opener inside of this vehicle and used it to open the garage. The garage door is also on the South side of the home. Once inside the garage, the suspect(s) opened and went through some storage closets. It does not appear anything was taken from the closets or garage.Parked in the garage was the victim's [redacted] vehicle. The key to this vehicle was left in the dashboard/ignition and the suspect(s) took the key. The suspect(s) took the garage door opener and key to the vehicle in the garage. It does not appear anything else was taken during the burglary/car prowl. Victim and his family were home and asleep during the burglary. The suspect(s) did not gain entry to the home. The suspect(s) only entered the garage, which is attached to the home.

Other August criminal activity

In addition to the car break-in/garage break-in incident above, there were five car prowls reported during August.  For some reason there was a three-week period with no such criminal activity reported.  But beginning on August 21 that all changed, with two reports about incidents that night (one on the 2500 block of Canterbury Lane E., and one on the 2300 block of 42nd Avenue E.).  A third incident occurred on the 3800 block of E. Crockett St. on August 26, followed by a car prowl on the 4100 block of E. Highland Dr. on August 29 and a similar break-in on the 800 block of 36th Avenue E. the following day.

Two cars were stolen from the neighborhood in August (one on the 2400 block of 41st Avenue E. on August 20 and one of the 600 block of 36th Avenue E. on August 30).  In addition there were multiple cases of theft (indicated by dollar-bill icons on the map above), as well as one incident of mail theft (in Broadmoor) and a case of credit-card fraud at a business on E. Madison St.

Perhaps when the weather changes back to that typical for Seattle at this time of year, criminal activity will decline in Madison Park.  But in the meantime (and thereafter), remember the watchword: vigilance.

Police Blotter July 2012

An increase in criminal activity in the neighborhood usually goes hand in hand with the return of good weather each summer, but July seemed to be an exception to that rule. The number of reported crimes was pretty much on a par with what we see most months.  While there were four home break-ins and three car prowls, there was not a single car stolen from the neighborhood in July, which is a bit unusual (four cars were taken during July 2011).

First, the home break-ins:

On July 9 a resident living on the 1200 block of 41st Avenue E. reported that sometime during the previous week someone had pulled open a main floor bedroom window of the resident's "guest house" and entered through the window.  Various items were stolen from the residence, which did not have any guests on the premises during the time the break-in occurred.

On July 17 a woman living on the 1900 block of 42nd Avenue E. was the victim of a break-in that occurred while she was taking a quick walk to the bank, a couple of blocks away.  While she was gone someone entered her secured residence and stole her purse, jewelry, cell phone and other valuables.  There was no evidence of forced entry, however, and the victim reported that only she and her daughter had keys to the residence.

On July 25 a resident of the 1100 block of 39th Avenue E. reported to police that he had returned home around 5 pm to find that a window to his house had been pried open and that the house's alarm system had been tripped.  It appeared that the would-be intruder had been scared off by the alarm, however, as nothing appeared to have been stolen from the premises.

Sometime between July 29 and 31, someone entered an unsecured detached garage on the 3700 block of E. HIghland St. and removed a Mercury outboard motor that had been lying on the garage floor next to the victim's Zodiac inflatable boat.

Also during July, car break-ins were reported on July 9 at E. McGilvra Street and Canterbury Lane E., on July 17 on the 1600 block of E. McGilvra Boulevard E., and on July 27 on E. Lynn St. and 42nd Avenue E.

There were two reported cases of prescription forgery at Pharmaca during the month, as well as a couple instances of property damage and one "disturbance."  Actually a rather quiet month, criminal wise, for Madison Park.

June Police Blotter

Attempted carjacking not quite at gunpoint

Madison Park generally isn't the kind of place where anyone would expect to find guns in play, but June may have followed a recent pattern involving gun use in the neighborhood, though whether a gun was actually involved or not is uncertain. The victim certainly thought so.

The incident, which happened around 6:30 a.m. on June 9 near the intersection of E. Madison Street and 41st Avenue E. (the red-mask icon on the map above), is listed by the Seattle Police as a "robbery/street/weapon--attempted" offense. The victim reported that he was talking on his cellphone in his car, which was parked on Madison at the time, when suddenly an "80's sedan, described as "boxy," possibly a Cadillac or El Camino, with a distinctive pinkish grey paint job, pulled in front of him at an angle." According to the police report, "two unknown men, described as Hispanic, exited the vehicle and approached the victim.  He was only able to recall the driver in any detail, as he came to the victim's door and tried to open it by the handle." Fortunately, the victim was able to lock the door, start up his car, and maneuver it around the blocking vehicle. He then drove to safety without pursuit.

No description was provided in the police report of the victim's car, and the initial report which is available on line does not mention the fact that the victim reported to police that when the suspect approached the victim's car in an attempt to enter it he reached into his pocket and appeared to be drawing out an object which the victim assumed was a gun, through a gun was never actually seen.  Gun or not, this is the first report we've had of a carjacking being attempted here in the Park.


More break-ins

Typically for this time of year, there were multiple break-ins in the neighborhood during the month. In one incident, which occurred on the 2000 block of McGilvra Boulevard E. on June 25, the victim reported that sometime during the day a burglar entered the victim's house, probably through a pet door, stealing various items from the premises.

On June 8, on the 1100 block of 36th Avenue E., a homeowner discovered that sometime after he and his wife left their residence for their cabin, someone had broken into their home.  Upon their return they discovered that a backyard patio door was ajar and a backyard window had been shattered. Stolen from the house were two flat-screen televisions and two computers.  "All of the rooms throughout the residence had been rummaged through," according to the police report.

Another break-in occurred on the 1200 block of 42nd Avenue E. on June 29, a non-forced entry and burglary which apparently occurred at night.  Car break-ins occurred on the 1000 block of 37th Avenue E. on June 8 and on the 3800 block of E. Howe Street and the 1800 block of 38th Avenue E. (a block away) on the morning of June 23.

There were a couple of disturbances reported (mask icons on the map), at least once of which involved no more than a barking dog.  The black-hand icon shows the location (the 4200 block of E. Madison St.) of a shoplifting incident.

May Police Blotter

Man with a gun

There was plenty of press coverage last month of the incident that's designated on the neighborhood crime map above with a blue gun icon. That's the location where on May 30 Seattle Police arrested a man for unlawfully brandishing a gun in public. Although any kind of gun-toting event would always be a major story in Madison Park, what made this particular incident newsworthy to the wider public was the timing:  May 30 was the day that Ian Stawicki fatally shot five people in the Roosevelt District, later killing a woman downtown whose car he then hijacked. At the time of the Madison Park incident, Stewicki was still on the run (though he later killed himself when cornered by police).

At 1:30 p.m., just two and a half hours after Stawicki shot the patrons of Cafe Racer, students at The Bush School noticed a man in a black jogging suit and gloves running by the School.  In his hand was what appeared to be a gun. The man suddenly stopped and began doing some stretches, during which time he apparently placed the gun on the ground. Bush was immediately put into lockdown mode and the police were summoned. Upon their quick arrival at the intersection of Hillside Drive E. and Lake Washington Boulevard E., officers confronted the suspect and relieved him of a Glock Model 23 (as shown below).

The man told police that he had "not carried a gun in two years" but had decided to carry one on this day because of the Stawicki shootings.  He said that he'd noticed that the Bush students were observing him and had thought to himself, "I hope they don't call the police!"  The man had a permit for the gun and a license to carry a concealed weapon. Unfortunately for him, it is not legal to walk or run around the city with a gun in your hand. He was taken into custody for unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon.  In the words of Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb, "This citizen used bad judgment."

Meanwhile, some other criminal acts of note

We've already covered the incident last month involving a bottle of Bud Light used as a weapon against an employee of a Madison Park bar.  The police report we recently reviewed adds some interesting details.  Apparently all of the four suspect patrons of the bar were pretty big guys (one was 6'4'' and 220 lbs., while another was 5'10" and 220 lbs.). They left the bar with beer bottles in hand but were then asked by the cook, whose height and weight are not indicated in the report, to return to the bar to finish their beers on premises. The cook decided to follow them down the street, where he further decided to intervene in a fistfight that was already underway between the former patrons.  For his efforts, he was punched, pushed into the bushes, and hit in the face with a beer bottle.

The police report states that one of the suspects had earlier paid for a pitcher of beer using a debt card and that fingerprints were recovered from a remains of the beer bottle used as a weapon.  This case is listed by the police as "Open."

There was only one residential burglary reported in the neighborhood during May.  That incident occurred on May 9 on the 3800 block of E. McGilvra.  The victim reported to police that sometime between 8:30 a.m., when he left his residence, and 12:30 p.m., when he returned home, someone had prised open his kitchen door and entered the house. He reported that some presumably valuable "silver table/tea pieces" were missing, for which he had pictures.  No fingerprints were recoverable at the scene. There was also one attempted burglary reported on 400 block of 39th Avenue E. Someone had attempted to gain entry to a house by trying unsuccessfully to remove a screen over the window, which was damaged in the process.  The rather well-know homeowner had been away from her residence for two months and had only returned to the house the previous day.

There were two car prowls reported during the month, one on 5/5 on the 1900 block of 42nd Avenue E. and one on 5/17 on the 4100 block of E. Highland Drive.  One car was also stolen, from the 800 block of 33rd Avenue E. on 5/9.

Finally, this report:  On May 20 a concerned homeowner near the intersection of 31st Avenue E. and E. Ward Street (close to the Shell Station) called police concerning a man in a sleeping bag smoking a cigarette. The citizen felt that given recent burglaries in the vicinity, the man should be checked out. When police arrived the man identified himself; and, as it transpired, a routine check showed that he was wanted on an arrest warrant from Everett.  He was therefore hauled off to jail.  But the story doesn't end there.  Ruefully the police report that the "jail nurse" refused to accept the suspect at the jail, claiming that he was "red and hot."  As a result, the police took him to Harborview, where he later apparently walked out of the hospital and was not seen again.  According to SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb, there is not enough manpower on the force to provide guards at hospitals for suspects being held for low-level crimes, so the outcome in this case is not, unfortunately, unique.