Queen Anne car prowls in September 2014
We all know that car prowls are an every night occurrence on Queen Anne. There are so many in our neighborhood (and across the city), that some months we have trouble keeping up with the counts – and those are just the ones that can be reported to SPD.
In September, we had over 60 car prowls and a repeat prowler caught on video by a Queen Anne resident – but nothing has happened to cut down on the nightly rounds of our local car prowlers. (note: we had several media requests resulting from this post, but nothing came of them)
As noted before, you can report car prowls online, but the report requires that something of value be taken. It’s almost like you have to leave spare change in your car so you can report something of value to log the statistic with SPD. It’s not enough that someone entered your car and rummaged through it, they have to take something too.
But, even if something is taken, it often seems that nothing is done. Now, car prowls are getting bigger attention. The Seattle Times has an article on car prowls that describes the issue with car prowls, calling them a “growth industry” that SPD allows to thrive.
Car prowling seems to have become a full time job for many criminals. It’s easy to do, hard to get caught, and the penalty is… well, read the Seattle Times article for a first-hand account of tracking a car prowler and SPD’s response.
Here’s an excerpt, go to the Seattle Times for the full article – and check out the comments, there are hundreds:
Police allow car break-ins to become a Seattle growth industry
By Danny Westneat, Seattle Times
If your car is broken into and your stuff stolen, don’t bother calling the police. They won’t come even if you track down the thieves yourself.
Excerpt:
In the past two weeks, there were an astonishing 426 smash-and-grabs reported in Seattle. A few years back, we did a front-page story about how car prowls had become the city’s top crime, with 370 in a two-week period. My thieves — unlike me — are working in a growth industry.
Seattle police, I get that this is petty crime. It’s on me for leaving stuff in the car. There also was no proof who did the smash-and-grab, so even if you had come, it would have been tricky to charge them with anything.
But it doesn’t take a detective to see how punting an entire crime category over to the insurance industry could cause these types of nuisance crimes to spiral out of control. One warning sign: In Seattle, the more serious car thefts are up a whopping 44 percent this year versus last.
Can we at least start making these thieves feel a little heat? Especially when they’re served right up for you in a silver minivan?
You can read about Danny’s frustrating experience with a car prowl in the full article. And, in the meantime, the only thing it seems we can do is double or triple check that our cars are locked every night. And, leave nothing of value in your car, unless you want to be able to file a report.