Just had my car broken into last night - 86th and 30th. They took a gps that was in the glove box, but nothing in view would indicate that there was a gps in it.

My GFs car got broken into about a year ago and they tried to steal a $100 stereo and failed.

GF's car was just broken into last night.

I think that's 4 in one year.

MamaC: I have never tried to be "intimidating with a Rott", like your post suggests. An angry mom with a rolling pin and a cell phone OF COURSE is more dangerous than my Rott so please just leave her out of it and best of luck with your rolling pin!!

BlackSheep: thanks! Rotts are sweet and yes, she hides too from storms. i find it funny too. it is sad but people do cross the street when they see us too. they are so gentle and loyal that it blows me away!

"A bit off topic but not, I hate that all these people MOVE here and moan and complain about Seattle. Were not nice enough, we don’t have enough this or that, the crime is too high, etc. Stop trying to change us! If your not happy, leave, I sure don’t want you here. I miss the old Seattle, not just Ballard, it had plenty of everything for me."

Sweet. So because I wasn't born here, I can't be disappointed by some aspects of Seattle? That doesn't reflect well on the people of Seattle. I never mentioned crime. I implied that I think it's silly to worry about little events such as this. Seattle is far safer than the last place I lived. I am going to leave, by the way, but not for about another year or so. That attitude (the, if you don't like it, leave, attitude) isn't helpful by the way. Why bother to change anything?

There are plenty of things I like about this city (restaurants, scenery, neighborhoods, beer, friendly people). The positive far outweighs the negative, but it's not perfect. It needs to densify, for one. What's wrong with bringing that to attention?

Lastly, it's "you're," not "your." It's "we're," not "were." Apostrophes are a part of Seattle, too.

Jules, I did some house-sitting for a relative with a Rott for a couple of months - she was the sweetest thing ever. She totally had the tough-dog bark, but just melted into goo when you gave her a scratch on the head. And she hid under the bed when she heard thunder, which cracked me up. You'll hear no Rott complaints from me! People did cross the street when we were out for walks, though!

our car got broken into on 52nd and Ballard Ave and they stole our emergency blanket. i feel bad that it's cold, but worse that it's $400 to replace the windshield. we don't have extra $100s just lying around.

Another heads up, I probably stopped a guy 16-20 from stealing a bike from my neighbor today.

I was just getting home this afternoon and I saw him "checking it out." I asked if I could help him. He told me he was looking for a new bike and was wondering about some of the parts on that one. Yeah.... sure.

My neighbor had wheel locks, so it was more likely he was trying to figure out how to get them off.

I told him it was my neighbors bike and gave him the stare down. The kid kept talking to me for a few more minutes (maybe 2) before I finally got him to back off.

The kid left, and I let me neighbor know he should keep his bike inside.

Dumb of my neighbor yes, but proof that this stuff can happen in broad daylight.

Just as more fuel for the fire... in the last three months, I've called SPD twice for seeing a guy walking down 59th St between 17th and 20th checking car doors to see if they were unlocked. My girlfriend and I were in my car both times, so he didn't check our doors, but he pulled the handle on every car door on the block (including those in driveways) before SPD got there. It was surreal the second time.

Didn't hear if any arrest was made either time, but the obvious moral: at the very least, lock your car doors.

Have the police made any contact or arrests lately? Any blockwatchers getting descriptions? All these postings are sort of vague.

I appreciate knowing what's happening in the neighborhood--esp. things like this. In earlier times, neighbors actually talked with each other to pass along exactly this kind of information. Thanks for passing it along to us.

Also Kat--RIGHT ON!

@jm, per loyalreader, "police know which teenage boys in the hood are “active” as they say."

re: #64
it's really not a good idea to leave your car unlocked. you might save yourself a broken window, but you're also allowing any creep to get in your car and wait for you to come out. not a likely scenario, but it could happen.

Alonzo, Why do you think the police know who the criminals are?

Hmmm..since the police know which teens are active in the area, why can't they give us a clue so we're not completely in the dark? As long as they get away with their crimes, they will continue. It's clear they think it is great fun to destroy our property. It's been a few years, but we had a car stolen from the street in front of our house. It was eventually found, but completely destroyed (engine fried, wheels gone, brick through windows, seats gone, etc).

In Greenwood?

Time to build a wall along 85th to keep the trash out.

For the guy who asked where I live: 65th and 32nd.

I had an entire CORD of wood stolen from a garage as well.

On December 23rd, my friends at @75th and Dibble had one vehicle broken into and vandalized (had to be towed to be repaired) and the other stolen. (4WD.) Amazingly enough, their friend, a mailman SAW the stolen car in Greenwood and my buddy got it back. (It had some damage as well.)

This uptick might be happening in Wallingford as well. I saw a set of three cars together with their windows smashed in earlier this week.

We moved here a little over a year ago and absolutely love Ballard. We have great neighbors,we have met everyone around us, some in residence 50+ years. Thank you geeky swedes for providing this great "backfence" for us. Keep it up! Oh and angry mom with rolling pin and cell phone much more intimidating than a rottie!

btw geeky swedes, this is exactly what we need to share with one another thank you thank you

sometime between midnight and six am on Dec 19th our car window was smashed and goods stolen, jeep up the street also had broken car window. near 73rd and 26th why call police? Last time i reported car thieves, (broke their key off in my ignition) my neighbor told me the only thing that will happen is our insurance will go up. police know which teenage boys in the hood are "active" as they say. But yeah, we need lots more cops around, a little presence helps a lot. Keep you from running all those red lights too

I don't have a clue if crime is rising or not. I know this:
1: I worked for nearly a year and a half near 24th and 56th (not far from Java Bean) ending 3 months ago. In that time my car was broken into, 2 clients were broken into, I was told a Java Bean employee was broken into, and that a lady patronizing the cleaner next to Besalu was a victim as well.
2. I live in spitting distance of Ballard High, and in the past 2 years we have had 3 break ins, and the neighbors we talk to (4 of them) have had 3 between them.
3. In all of these instances combined, the cops were called 2x. Nobody lost too much of value, waiting for the cops sounded like a pain, and the insurance deductable was probably more than the damage. (On 2 of these occasions, including my break in, they used a slim jim or electronic unlocking mechanism, as there were no broken windows, but the car was for sure locked.)

That is what I know, and I like the warning being out there for others. I like the warning being out there for me. Knowing what I know, makes the difference for me in running in real quick to pick up kids, or anything else, without unpluging an Ipod or making sure I have my purse, even with the doors locked, and in the middle of the day!

If we had just a few more police on the job maybe we'd see less crime? SPD is seriously understaffed for a city of this size.

I feel for the people whose cars have been broken into. I've been there (back in college). We've lived in our house for 4 years now and quite a few cars have been broken into on our street over those years. I no longer lock my doors and keep nothing a thief would want in there and I haven't been hit. So, if you don't want to pay for a new window/lock, just leave it unlocked. In my opinion, there will always be car thieves!

Hi. I organized the neighborhood watch meeting last night at Loyal Heights C.C. We had about 35+ people in attendance, which I believe was a good turnout. I admit that it wasn't as productive as I thought it could be, but I thought it was a necessary first step. The man who presented was from the North Precinct and covers these kinds of meetings. Many of the people present were inquiring about the possibility of increasing police patrols in our neighborhood as well as the benefit/futility of phoning 911. I asked the group if they thought that there was an increase in crime in the neighborhood, and the general concensus was that crime was cyclical--depending on when a new group of teenagers cropped up. As for the graffiti that appeared on the side of the community center a few weeks back, it wasn't ruled out that it was done by a gang.

Anyways, I am planning to get in touch with someone from G.A.I.N., the neighborhood watch group of Greenwood near Aurora. I think they have been very proactive, looking out for their streets and demonstrating a solid and unified presence that certain behavior will not be tolerated where they live.

There is a self-defense class being offered at Loyal Heights C.C. next month on Feb. 21. You have to register for it.

I think the next step may be to set up a neighborhood patrol group, whereby neighbors will walk their blocks on certain days of the month.

I have only lived in Ballard 1.5 years. Before coming to Seattle, I lived in Houston, TX my whole life and I never really worried about crime, petty or otherwise.

Let me know if you are interested in the neighborhood patrol. I think this is a way to demonstrate that we care about Ballard.

Thank you.

"Nightmare on Market Street"

vintage cars rock! :)

I may even break a window or two for a DJ Jazzy Jeff CD! that takes me back for a minute....

Wow - the have Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince on CD?!?!? That IS worth breaking in for :-)

Jules: They may have. I was so relieved that they didn't smash the window of my "vintage" car, that I celebrated by buying myself some matching car speakers from Radio Shack.

Most comical theft I've heard is someone breaking a window into a car to take a DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince CD, while leaving the disk drives alone in the back seat.

“That’s one complaint I have about Seattle. It’s not the big city I wanted it to be when I moved out here, but I still enjoy it.

I’ll stay for another year and move on.”

A bit off topic but not, I hate that all these people MOVE here and moan and complain about Seattle. Were not nice enough, we don't have enough this or that, the crime is too high, etc. Stop trying to change us! If your not happy, leave, I sure don't want you here. I miss the old Seattle, not just Ballard, it had plenty of everything for me.

we really need to try to shoot down all of this new ballard vs. old ballard BS. it is what it is, it is ballard and we are all living here now. if people don't like it here, move. there are plenty of other areas in seattle to live. all places have their respective issues i am sure of it.

instead of all the cranky tones maybe just try to embrace it as what it is and be a positive part of the community, whether you have been here 1 year or 100 years.

personally i have been in ballard 13 years and i love it as much today as i did when i moved here!

places change, people change, but it is you that has the ability to bend or break.

"What can you do? "

In a free country? Piss and moan about people moving to Ballard and watering down your pure Scando-white heritage on a blog and make up fictions and whoppers about how things were 'so much better in the old days'.

"That’s one complaint I have about Seattle. It’s not the big city I wanted it to be when I moved out here, but I still enjoy it.

I’ll stay for another year and move on."

I hear Chicago is nice. Please shut the door quitely when you leave.

The nicest part ABOUT Ballard was the relatively low crime rate. Frankly, not too many people came here who didn't live here; it wasn't a "destination" for shopping or eating. Now that we have been "Discovered" , there are a lot of people coming here. Not all of them are after some Thai food.

What can you do? For the person who SAW the guys look in her car, get the license # for the love of all that is holy!

jm:
it WAS rattan furniture. great, looks like we have yet another type of "rat" in our neighborhood. maybe he could get the car prowl punks to join him and they could have a good ole time!....

until they run into one of us.....thanks for the story for reference.

This is the Ballard porch thief story from 2006:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/287850_pa...

hasfrau:
they would have left fingerprints on your window.

blacksheep:
That is funny...
no joke, huh?...i actually wanted to thank you guys on here for not railing me for my choice of dog breed. i know how opinionated seattle folks seem to be on this topic (and this website!), and i can wholeheartedly appreciate both sides of the coin.

i can guarantee you my days of "trying to be cool by owning a Rott" are long gone by. The time and $$ invested in both of my girls (dogs) was tremendous and they are both excellent reflections of that.

i am a single business owner with no children so they are definatley priorities for me.

maybe tonight, instead of my lawn furniture, i will leave them both out on the deck! God Forbid they have to stay outside for a night and act like a watch dog!....

"Please let me know if there are any steps that I can take as a good neighbor to help out with this crappy stuff happening in our little Nirvana.

Yes, Jules - kick the Rotts out of bed!!

I actually had someone jiggle down my broken driver's side window, cleanly detach and remove two obviously mismatched, cheap stereo (and not car stereo either) speakers and then pull my window back up and relock the door. Courteous of them, but how weird is that???

I saw a couple kids (early 20’s?) peeking into both of my family's parked cars... Saturday morning... broad daylight. This is around 65th and 22nd. They finally noticed me standing right in my window with a clear view of them, so they got into their car that was parked directly across the street from my house. Metallic gold Jeep Cherokee, large fancy rims.

Sure, this is petty theft or whatever… but having to replace window glass sucks.

Also, totally relevant post for a neighborhood blog. Keep it up.

My hometown of 150,000 people already has 12 murders in 2009. So if someone wants to break my window and take my jacket, whatever.

"I think it’s more so people who have moved into Ballard over the past few years who came from places or neighborhoods where crime was less."

You're right, I came from Chicago. Detroit before that. Also spent time in NYC. But I had to come to Ballard to get my car stolen.

"I just hope one of these clowns cross someone with a CWP."

Yeah, right. Then the "Clowns" will be armed with the gun out of some idiot's glovebox.

Perfect.

jm:
i was purchased last year so fairly new but still a crapper deed. what a weirdo thing to steal...

thanks for the info. regarding it happening in the past. i will keep my eyes & ears open and try to help where i can!

have a good weekend

jules - was your furniture new? There was a rash of lawn furniture thefts a few years ago. Those thefts were happening around the Phinney Ridge area. The guy was caught by SPD, but we never heard what happened to him. He was taking the furniture to an Everett outdoor (drive-in theatre) swap meet and selling it.

@Nordic Woman -- sorry to hear. around what area do you live?

Did you ask what he defines as crime? I would disagree with him. In the category of graffiti, there has been a huge increase and wasn’t that the topic of your meeting? Every surface in town has some kind of sticker, pen mark, etching or spray painted scribble. It’s big problem that costs all of us money to clean up. Maybe the neighbor doesn’t leave his yard very often.

This has also been happening by my house too! I am more on the 80th and around 19th-20th areas but my neighbors work truck was hit last night as well! They, whoever "they" is, also stole my lawn outdoor furniture last night which must have been quite a feat since they had to go up & over my fence with 4 chairs and a small table! i wish i could have seen those idiots doing that!
i actually may have laughed....

So much for my 2 Rottweilers that we comfortably tucked in the covers sound asleep! :)

Please let me know if there are any steps that I can take as a good neighbor to help out with this crappy stuff happening in our little Nirvana.

Have a great Friday, also, jules....did you know there are 2 of us that are on here it seems?

For the record, my car was broken into at about 8:30 in the morning!

I have no doubt that crime is any different in Ballard than it was years ago. I think it's more so people who have moved into Ballard over the past few years who came from places or neighborhoods where crime was less.

I live on the 5800 block of 17th and am grateful for the heads up! Thanks!

It's worth noting that after last night's block watch meeting (which in my opinion was fairly useless and unorganized) I chatted with an elderly fella who's lived in a house adjacent to Loyal Heights playfield for 30+ years. I asked him if he thought crime was on the rise. His answer was an emphatic NO.

I realize that's simply his opinion, but it confirmed what I've concluded myself after 13 years. And it's hard to disagree w/ someone who's been paying attention for that long.

we live on 24th and 59th and somone broke into our car, they didnt break anything but took my husbands book bag. He is a high school english teacher, the WIERDEST thing happened a few weeks later, they returned the Book Bag on our front door and returned everything but the 9th grade english book. seems we may have a theif with a thirst for knowledge....

Hmmmm, I have lived in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles and the only city I have had a home/car break-in is Seattle. Once in 1989, once in 2008. Don't kno wwhat that means, but

On a different note, always call your insurance company when you have a window of your car broken. Depending on your coverage, State Farm and USAA will foot the bill and Glass Doctor does housecalls...or work calls, whichever you need. Doesn't stop the crime from happening, but it takes part of the sting out.

I've heard a car driving around our neighborhood the past 2 nights (near 65th and 17th) honking it's horn constantly while just driving around the streets. Probably just annoying teenagers being, well, teenagers. But from the sounds of the crimes, sounds sounds like they are teenagers too.

It's not ignorance. Obviously I'm aware these things happen. It's just that I refuse to be paranoid about such things, unlike some here.

I live in Ballard, and my son't truck has been broken into at least twice in the last 5 years. I think it is important to know that we live in a big city, and a reminder NEVER to leave anything in your car that you cannot replace or afford to lose. It took my son losing the same Cd's and ipod twice to figure this out...car insurance does not cover anything that is not actually part of the car....

I wouldn't worry too much about the "Ignornace Is Bliss™" crowd

To answer some of the earlier questions, Seattle PD does not track crime statistics (especially smaller property crimes) in a timely fashion. They're delayed by several months or more (the link above is to 2007 data.) So if you ask if there's a particular rash of crime in the last week or two, they're reluctant to provide an anecdotal answer.

The best gauge is our own experience scanning police reports and sensing an increase of a particular type of crime. The reports are comprised of hundreds of pages in multiple .pdf files every week that are not organized by geography or crime type -- extremely labor intensive to review, so we don't keep a tally of crimes or even read all the reports every week. But we do notice general trends in Ballard, our area of focus. Combined with an increase of user emails (we get a ton of crime-related emails that we do NOT publish), as well as the general rule that a down economy increases property crime, we're able to say that there's been a rash of these lately.

As far as whether or not we should publish a story like this, we think it's relevant information for the neighborhood with public service value. We don't publish all the crime that happens here -- in fact, as a percentage of stories, we post dramatically less crime than you'll see on a standard TV newscast -- but we will publish crime stories that we feel are relevant and interesting to the neighborhood.

Crime statistices for Seattle can be found at this link

http://web1.seattle.gov/seastats/doStatistics.aspx

Last time my car was broken into there was no money, laptop, cellphone etc to entice anyone. There were a few nalgene bottles that were NOT stolen and a bag of trash that was simply dumped out on my front seat.

Sometimes I think people are doing this just to be a$$holes.

I almost never leave anything in my car. I say almost because I once left a coat in my car and it was broken into. My window cost over $800 to replace and I had to wait for it to arrive from Germany. It's not a good feeling to have someone break in.

That's one complaint I have about Seattle. It's not the big city I wanted it to be when I moved out here, but I still enjoy it.

I'll stay for another year and move on.

......and where are the 'it must be the poor economy' clowns?

Big city? Are you kidding? Seattle is a town and Ballard feels like a suburb of that town. Anybody you thinks Ballard is some kind of New York, Chicago or Detroit needs to travel a little, you sound like a yokel.

I just hope one of these clowns cross someone with a CWP.

And thanks Geeky Swedes for keeping us informed.

I'm sorry to hear about the breakins!, But when you leave cell phones, laptops, money, anything of the sort out in the open guaranteed you will be vandalized. It doesn't matter if you have an alarm or not, it's still an open invitation.

@homeless dude - That's basically what I'm saying. What's the point in worrying about things like this? Don't leave anything in your car. That's all you can do.

*car seat as in baby car seat :)

Sadly in Ballard its hard to NOT park on the street.

It is bad what will entice kids. I just hope no one trashes my car seat if they get mad because the only other thing in my car is a bag of trash and stale french fries.

Called the cops over break in to one of our cars while it was parked on the street. The thieves took some pocket change (maybe a dollar?) from the cup holder.

The cops said even this is enough to entice these kids.

They also said, don't park on the street if at all possible. There's not much else you can do.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic service and something that the local news blogs are perfectly designed for. The big papers are typically good for news of armed robberies/murders/serious crimes, and will not report on smaller stories like this unless they see an increase in crime stats published by the police.

However, these small crimes are no less disturbing to the general populace, and this is a great way of getting the word out there.

I will say the site is informative when it comes to things I want to know about, though, like new restaurants and the like.

All I'm saying is that it seems like every other post is something we should be afraid of, when it's really just the normal events of a city. Cars get broken into all the time. It's easy not to leave something in the backseat.

I'd say home invasion is a different story, I suppose.

On this site, I'd say the thing that annoys me the most is all the talk about the "hoodlums that hang around the 7-11," and how they get blamed for everything.

GS, thanks for the reporting. some feel this isn't necessary. they will soon leave due to boredom w/that attitude.

Reading some of the above comments, it seems to me like some of you are suggesting that we are inevitable victims and that we should expect to be so in a "big" city. I respectfully but completely disagree with that attitude. I believe strongly that we can have a safe neighborhood where crime is extremely rare. Too ambitious for you? OK, for you, I say we can have a decreasing incidence of crimes in Ballard over the coming months and years.

silence.kit, you are more than welcome to leave your valuables unattended so that mine are less likely to be stolen. I, however, appreciate knowing what's going on, even though there's never anything in my car.

When my house was broken into, I told my neighbors. Was that "instilling fear"?

This is the new journalism, so spread the word. Recently, the newspapers reported that many crime victims are not taking the time to report their loss to the SPD or their own insurance companies. Waiting for the SPD to release the latest crime statistics is fine, but only reflects part of the problem.

It looks like this is happening everywhere. My girlfriend saw a van with a smashed window on lower Queen Anne, and a large rock laying next to it not too long ago. Also, last weekend someone tried to steal my scooter in the same area.

I don't think Myballard.com is instilling fear. I see it as more of a "heads up" kind of deal. If I wanted stats to go with it, I'll check out the local paper, while we still have one.

Shouldn't you always be looking out for your property, then? I mean these things can happen to ANYONE at ANY TIME!!! We're all screwed. Someone you never met in your life could get mugged in a city of 500,000. It could be happening right now!

I'll be in the closet with a baseball bat...

I had my window smashed; they got my messenger bag containing my dirty gym clothes.However, it cost $350 for a new window AND they bent the door trying to pry it open. I also miss that bag...if anyone sees a gold brocade Asian print messenger bag in Ballard, it's MINE. It was a one-of-a-kind sample.

My sympathies to those who have been violated. Also a reminder to leave NOTHING in your vehicles, let alone any valuables. People don't take time to figure out what is in your car. They smash and grab and peruse the goods later. It may be a sack of dirty laundry in your car - but it will still cost you a new window...

The fact that the geeky swedes have received "several emails over the past week" is good enough for me. I appreciate them getting the word out. That's why I read this site on a daily basis.

Welcome to the big city kids!

I don't think telling the readers of this blog that crimes are occurring is "highlighting" or "instilling fear". If longtime residents notice an increase in crimes of any type, there's nothing wrong with informing the neighbors and keeping their property and that of others under a more watchful eye.

Please, I know this is a blog, but if you're going to play at covering the "local crime" beat, at least try to do some research on the actual crime statistics so you can place your anecdotes in context.

Myballard.com certainly does instill a sense of fear highlighting all these crimes that occur.

It's almost as if we don't live in a major city...