Greenwood and Phinney Ridge seem to be hotbeds of car break-ins, and recently we’ve heard of numerous cars being stolen.

Gretchen tells us her Nissan Sentra was stolen from in front of her home on North 74th Street, between Fremont and Linden avenues sometime Friday night/Saturday morning.

And Christine, who recently told us about break-ins to her building’s storage units at 7501 Greenwood Ave. N., tells us someone stole a Toyota Camry from the building’s garage sometime Saturday night/Sunday morning. She says the car was locked and had an alarm, but there was no sign of forced entry.

Update Thursday 3 p.m.: Mia tells us she found her car parked at an Aurora Avenue motel today. She called the police, who arrested a suspect inside the motel on unrelated warrants. She says her car was full of drug paraphernalia, cigarette butts and other items, and was impounded for processing.

Earlier: Mia tells us her blue Volvo XC70 station wagon was stolen from NW 67th Street, between 6th and 7th avenues NW during the night of April 8-9th. The license plate is 575WPS. Please call the police if you see it. A nearby SUV was also broken into at the same time, and another nearby car had its window smashed.

She says a Good Samaritan found one of the toddler car seats in a parking lot at 9030 Greenwood Ave. on Tuesday afternoon and had seen the car, but the thieves took off with it again.

And Meagan says someone smashed in her car’s window on NW 84th Street between 3rd and 6th avenues last Saturday night and stole the car’s emergency kit. She says she spoke with neighbors who told her of at least five other broken car windows on that street that same night.

Patrick tells us his father’s car was hit at 5:30 a.m. on Monday by a white car that left the scene.

The car was travelling East on 73rd Street when it drifted across the street and hit the side of the car. There should be significant damage to the driver’s side, front fender. It is most likely a local car, considering the time of day, and the person was either commuting to work or heading to the airport. Any information would be appreciated.

If you have any information, please email eggers1@yahoo.com.

Josh tells us his green Subaru was stolen from Fremont Avenue North and North 80th Street in Greenwood last Wednesday night. He’s hoping the thieves abandoned it somewhere nearby.

It’s a green 1996 Subaru Legacy L Wagon, with a bunch of bumper stickers on it, including: Ben & Jerry’s, “If it’s not fun why do it?”; “Nurses for Obama”; American Flag, “think: it’s patriotic”; Wyoming cowboy on a horse (yellow & black); UMass School of Nursing; Mount Holyoke; College of the Atlantic; and Atlantic School of Veterinary Medicine.

If you’ve seen it, please email Josh at joshuamarvel@gmail.com.

Several neighbors on North 60th Street and 1st Avenue NW have reported multiple car prowls on Wednesday night or early Thursday.

One neighbor tells us he saw at least five cars with broken windows and car alarms going off. Another neighbor said it could be as many as 10.

Did anyone nearby also have car prowl problems?

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.

Charlie tells us someone stole a bunch of engine parts from his 1994 Honda Accord, sometime between Nov. 19-20.

(T)hey cut out the radiator and fan assembly, and stole the ignition wire set, and wiper blades. In the process of getting the parts they damaged many more components. The car was parked under a street lamp in the 9700 block of Phinney Ave.

We’ve heard of plenty of car prowls in the area, but usually for items inside the car, not car parts. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Alina tells us her Subaru’s passenger windows were completely smashed sometime between 11 last night and 7 this morning. Nothing was taken from the car, which was parked on the corner of North 59th Street and Greenwood Avenue North.

Michelle says she saw a man get out of his silver Volvo and knock over both of her neighbor’s garbage cans, around midnight last night, near the corner of 3rd Avenue NW and NW 76th Street. She says as she went inside, she heard another loud thunk, and assumed it was the same man knocking over more cans down the street.

Did anyone see or hear anything related to these two incidents?

Kate says her red 1992 Honda Civic CX hatchback was stolen from North 86th Street between Dayton and Evanston avenues sometime overnight. She had a club on the steering wheel and she didn’t find any broken glass in the street. The license plate is 481 XVD.

Since the police and many others have told me that lots of cars are driven around and then left in a neighborhood where they will not be discovered immediately, I am hoping you can help me keep an eye out for her. Think of it as a treasure hunt. My undying gratitude for her safe return.

Identifying features: After a previous theft, I put an Obama ’08 bumper stick on the back drivers side of the hatch to make her easier to identify in case I ever had to go out looking for her again. Also half scraped off CT emissions sticker in the front windshield and Sierra Club sticker in the back window. Last seen wearing blue Mardi Gras beads on the rear view mirror.

If you have any information or see the car by the side of the road, please leave a note in comments, or email Kate. If you see someone driving it around, call 911 and report a stolen vehicle.

Dennis sent along yet another reminder to not leave anything valuable in your car, even if you’re only gone for a minute.

The prowl occurred approximately 10:30 Saturday the 28th in the evening as a musician who had just completed a show at the Phinney Center Community Hall was loading his gear into his vehicle. The passenger side window was broken, and a MacBook, iPad, other personal possessions were stolen, as well as the proceeds of his merchandise sale. The theft was reported to the SPD. Please take care not to leave a vehicle unattended even for a minute with valuables inside.

Raine says someone broke into his car while another person peered through his front window near Linden Avenue North and North 89th Street.

Had a gentleman peeking in my front window while another person tossed my car on the 30th.

My car was in the driveway and lit pretty well. Nothing was stolen thankfully as I heard the noise outside and scared the two gentlemen off.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Seattle Police say several car-jacking suspects stole a car in the Sunset Hill area of Ballard late Saturday night, and later crashed into a tree in Greenwood.

From the SPD Blotter:

On October 1st at approximately 11:50 p.m. officers responded to a report of a carjacking (Strong Arm Robbery of a vehicle) in the 7700 block of 34th Avenue NW. A man and his girlfriend were assaulted by eight to nine male suspects and the victim’s 1996 Acura Integra was taken. A few minutes later the suspect(s) were seen racing the stolen vehicle on NW 80th Street.

At approximately 12:05 a.m. the suspect(s) collided into a tree at 1st Avenue NW and NW 82nd Street. A witness saw a male suspect run from the crash scene and get into a white Lincoln 4-door sedan. The Lincoln drove away and both the suspect vehicle (Lincoln) and the suspect(s) remain at large.

The stolen Acura Integra was recovered and taken to the evidence garage for processing and fingerprinting.

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

Update Tuesday: One of the victims of the assault and carjacking sent us a picture of the tree where the suspects crashed his car. You can see the deep muddy tire tracks on the left.