Smash and grab, attempted car prowl, house broken into in Phinney-Greenwood last night

by | Dec 20, 2012

It was a busy night for crime in our neighborhod last night. Sarah emailed to tell us about a car break-in she witnessed last night.

The car break-in happened on 1st in front of St. John the Evangelist in the evening after dark. I was walking my dog across the street when a car pulled up in front of the church, I heard a thump, and the car sped off. I asked the woman who was on that side of the street if something had happened and she wasn’t sure, but thought so. Then we saw the back window of the SUV had been broken out. This all took place in less than 40 seconds. I didn’t pay close attention because I thought it was someone running late to pick up their kid. The other woman also assumed it was someone running late.
So, my take-away from this, is pay attention to any odd behavior. And no matter how quick you think you’ll be, never leave stuff in your car and always lock your car. This happened really fast.
The guy only got reusable grocery bags it looks like. He was driving an older station wagon type car that was white or light grey. The police were called and were coming to take a report.

Coincidentally, last night we witnessed an attempted car prowl by a man in a white station wagon near the corner of 7th Avenue NW and NW 73rd Street. The man sped around the corner, stopped his car in the middle of the street, and quickly looked inside the windows of two parked cars with a bright flashlight. I yelled at him to stop and he jumped in his car and sped away. I called the police and made a report over the phone.
Sarah also tells us her neighbor’s house was broken into sometime yesterday.

I came home to find out our neighbors’ house had been broken into and burgled. This is at 83rd and 3rd. It happened during the day. It looks like they might have broken through a place in the back fence where a board was already missing. More boards had been broken out. They forced open a basement window (the type of window that slides side-to-side) and stole a bunch of stuff, including x-mas presents. The police were called and took a report. The police were there quite a while.
My take-away from this crime is try to limit access to your backyard—put locks on your gates, keep valuables and presents away from view of windows, adopt a dog, communicate with your neighbors. (We had noticed the broken fence earlier in the day and left a note. Our neighbor hadn’t seen the note yet and also didn’t know about the fence until we told them after the police were called.) Also very important, do automatic, off-site back up of your files, photos, etc. You can’t stress this enough.

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