Break-in and theft near MLK and Olive

I've heard from friends and neighbors about dozens of car prowls and breakins in this area over the past few months. Most didn't show up on the crime map, so perhaps they weren't reported to the police, but it's gotten pretty out of control. Every other house on my block has been hit and it's only a matter of time until the thugs hit the rest. And there was the arson on 33rd, too.

The police will not take any concrete action without photographic evidence. They've got too much going on look for forensic evidence or try to track stolen property. If you live around here and you can install a security camera or two, that's probably the only thing that might lead to a long-term solution. Also, lock down everything you can, leave some decoy electronics out and of course call the police if you see your neighborhood being cased or if you get robbed.

I couldnt imagine leaving my house without arming my alarm with motion detectors. Are all these houses getting robbed missing alarms?

That would be plain silly.

I am so sorry. This is so alarming, and I agree that I have been hearing so many stories recently. When we had the string a couple summers ago I started taking extra precautions. We have an alarm, but honestly people can sometimes get in and out quickly, before the cops even arrive.

We had a "carpet cleaning salesman" stop by our house on Sunday offering us a deal on carpet cleaning. He was not wearing a uniform of any kind. He was friendly, but had no brochure, only a laminated description of their services. He may have been completely legit, but without leaving a brochure it seemed sketchy. My husband told him we have hardwood floors and only carpet upstairs. He suggested that he show him so he could get us a quote. My husband politely declined. There was no way we were letting an unsolicited stranger walk through our home and upstairs to look at carpet.

Description: while male, dark brown hair slicked back, about 25 years old.

We originally rented this home, and it didn't have an alarm system (and most alarm installers won't do that without owner involvement). When we purchased the home for ourselves, we priced alarm systems but couldn't figure out a way to squeeze it into the budget yet with various other pressing needs; however, it's going to be done right away, regardless of the financial stress it will add. The police advised that the alarms scare people at best; it's pretty clear that with what the thieves walked off with that they could have been in and out in about 3 minutes, far faster than a police response would likely have done any good for. The only odd thing is that they would have likely needed to park a truck nearby to get away with the tv.

~ 5 years ago we used Russ to install a system in our house and it has been great. No wire and no visible external connector thingys. I think it all works off of RFID.

Email:
russvan@mindspring.com Primary
Title:
Owner
Company:
REV Associates LLC

Just wanted to give everyone that lives near 26th and Yesler a heads up that our house was broken into yesterday afternoon around 1:45. Someone kicked in the back door of the basement. Thankfully, he/she/they were thwarted by the alarm and an apparent inability to quickly locate the steps leading to the main part of the house. Of course we filed a police report. We weren't home at the time but pulled up to notice the back gate ajar and the alarm sounding. We must have missed them by literally minutes. Alarm = Good.

I'm SO sorry this happened to you. Our house was robbed while we slept years ago. After we got an alarm, people tried to break in twice (crack house on your block will cause that). Each time they ran when the alarm sounded. The key for us was that we had a horn put on the outside AND the inside of the house, so when the alarm sounded it was so freaking loud inside the house it would just about make you pee your pants. One would-be burglar left his shoe on our couch, he was so jarred by the alarm sounding inside. That was a fun call to 911. "Can you describe the intruder?" "Um, a startled dumbass running down the street with one shoe?"

My mom's house was broken in to and her not-very-loud exterior alarm was ignored by the neighbors. Get a horn inside and outside. If you can afford it, get a monitored system.

Good luck! Hope the pukes who stole your TV get caught. Make sure to check and alert the pawn shops, like the one on Rainier.