Christina wrote to tell us that her car was stolen from her carport in Bitter Lake, just north of Greenwood, over the weekend:

We live in Bitter lake, and woke Sunday morning to our Honda Element missing from our driveway. It was stolen from our carport between 10pm Saturday and 8am Sunday. Unfortunately, it is the second car stolen from our driveway in the last two years. Both times, the thieves have been sophisticated enough to by-pass anti-theft devices and have done it in the middle of the night while we were home. Our next step is to install a video and motion-detector system (we’ve had other thefts in addition to the cars and it’s getting ridiculous, so we feel like we need to do more to prevent it).

We’ve notified the police, but thought others might want to know. And, what other steps have people taken to protect their cars/homes/belongings/families?

So, how about it readers? What advice can you offer to keep thieves from stealing your car, especially if you’ve already installed various anti-theft devices?

We got a note from Jeffrey this morning about a woman he believes was a prostitute looking for customers along Greenwood Avenue.

On way to work at about 8:10 am, saw sight usually found on 99. Young female, lots make up, strolling slowly on west side of Greenwood at about 70th. Looking at cars, following them with her eyes. I was suspicious. When I drove by looked over and she made eye contact and gave a half-wave and a look. I take 99 south to work everyday so I know what a woman who is “working” looks and acts like. No doubt she was prostitute. Looks like maybe SPD has driven someone off 99 and onto our neighborhood main drag? If I wasn’t running late would have told her I was gonna call the cops. Will drop a line to N. Precinct so it is documented.

Not a real law and order type, but hookers on Greenwood cannot be tolerated. Hard drug use, theft, and violence are the fellow travelers of the oldest profession.

I called the Seattle Police Department to find out exactly what someone should do if they think they see a prostitute.

“You would actually call the non-emergency number,” SPD Spokesperson Renee Witt said. “You could always say it’s a suspicious person and she appears to be soliciting.”

SPD’s non-emergency line is 206-625-5011.

Christina wants to know if anyone has seen a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run in Greenwood/Crown Hill early this morning.

At 1am August 17, there was a hit and run on 10th Ave NW between 80th and 85th. As the driver fled the scene, they headed north on 10th to 85th where they turned and headed east. They were driving a red truck with a silver tool box in the back. There would be new body damage to the front driver side of the truck. If anyone has any additional information it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to all of our neighbors who acted so quickly last night.

A woman was attacked and beaten in a parking lot in the 8500 block of Phinney Ave.  It happened last Friday (8/13) around 3:45am.  The woman, who apparently was living in a truck near the location, was approached by three men who started yelling at her.  A witness says the woman grabbed a baseball bat to confront the men, but they took the bat away from her and hit her with it.  They also punched her with their fists.  The woman then fell to the ground and one of the men stomped on her head.  When officers arrived, the woman was still on the ground with a good amount of blood around her head. 

A witness says the three attackers left in two different vehicles (described as a full size brown Chevrolet pick-up and possibly a Toyota Corolla).  The witness was also able to capture a couple of pictures of the vehicles on his cell phone.

The victim told police that some “guys from the boys club up the road got bored” and came to bother her.   She would not give police a written statement and would not provide any descriptions of her attackers.

We recently received two notes from readers about scary situations.

This morning Angie wrote:

I just wanted to send in a friendly neighborhood reminder to all of the PhinneyWood readers (and beyond) to lock your doors when you’re not at home. I live on a quiet street at 83rd and 10th Ave NW and yesterday, I came home early from work at about 2:30pm to find a random teenager passed out, face down in my living room! He had walked down our driveway and found the back door which had mistakenly been left unlocked when both my husband and I left for work in the morning. I called the police who responded really quickly and entered the house, guns drawn to drag this 16 year old, very drunk kid, out of my house — thankfully he threw up outside and not all over our new couch. He didn’t seem to have touched anything in the house at all, nothing seems to be missing. He just came in and passed out. There is no way to know if he was alone the whole time or if there were other kids with him who left him there, but the situation could have been so much worse on so many levels. And, could have been avoided had we remembered to lock our door.

And last weekend, an anonymous reader had this experience:

I wanted to make you aware of an attempted break-in tonight around 7:30 pm at my home at 2nd Ave NW and 87th. I’d like to remind my neighbors not to answer the door for strangers and to call 911 about ANYTHING suspicious. As my father-in-law, who was a cop in another state, told me, if your hair stands on end and something doesn’t feel right, listen to your instincts.

I was home alone with my baby tonight. Around 7 pm, a young black man came up my steps past the no soliciting sign and began aggressively, loudly pounding on my front door. Not knocking — pounding, for about three minutes straight. I did not know him, and he was not carrying a board or anything to indicate that he was selling anything, so I did not answer the door. It looked like no one was home (no car in the driveway, front porch light on, and I did not answer), and I was pretty sure he was casing the house. I called 911. Shortly thereafter, I heard pounding against the side of my house. (I realized later that this was someone trying to break into the basement window. The grass was all trampled there. Thankfully the window is nailed shut.) I called 911 back. Cops were here within minutes and continued to drive around the neighborhood all night.

At the same time that someone was trying to break into my basement window, a young man of similar description, but neater clothes (button-up shirt and sweater) was across the street asking my neighbor to buy magazine subscriptions for $50. He seemed a bit fishy to her, and looked in and around her house. They might be working together.

Just wanted to let my neighbors know to be safe, don’t open your door to strangers, and call 911 if you see anything suspicious.

And thank you, Seattle Police, for taking immediate action.

Our sister site Maple Leaf Life is reporting that last night’s Seattle Night Out could have been the last one, due to budget cuts. Here’s the full story from Maple Leaf Life:

By Mike Ullman, Maple Leaf Life

Wednesday evening thousands of Seattle residents joined in the giant block party that is National Night Out against crime. Our news partners The Seattle Times reports more than 1,000 blocks in the city celebrated.

It might be for the last time.

Night Out in Seattle is a function of the city’s six civilian crime prevention coordinators, who work directly with the neighborhoods but could see their positions axed, as we reported earlier.

Seattle faces a multi-million dollar budget shortage, and the six, including North Precinct coordinators Diane Horswill and Neil Hansen, have been told they’ll lose their jobs next spring when grant money runs out.

Today Marc Phillips, president of the Maple Leaf Community Council, let us know that “this is likely the last year (for Night Out) due to budget cuts.”

Horswill confirms: “I think it is important for neighbors to know that the services we provide including block watch, community meetings, security consultations, personal safety and Night Out will be gone,” she e-mailed today.

“Although the budget won’t be official until late Fall we (Crime Prevention Coordinators) were told that the 3-year-grant that we have been working under for the past year or so will be applied to other positions/programs as of 3/31/2011.”

The crime prevention coordinators do the time-consuming administrative work of orchestrating the neighborhood programs under their city contract, in addition to working directly with residents doing everything from setting up block watches to going door to door to warn about recent crimes. They were part of the police budget up until last October, when the positions were funded with the federal grant money.

“We’re encouraging folks to contact the mayor, Councilperson Burgess, and Chief Diaz to fund this vital service,” Phillips said.

We wanted to give you a heads up about two recent home burglaries that took place very close to each other in Phinney Ridge.  Both were reported in the evening hours of July 30.  One happened in the 5100 block of 1st Ave NW and the other was reported in the 5200 block of Phinney Ave.  The police reports with full details aren’t available yet.  Just a reminder that you can track crime in the neighborhood with the new online map from Seattle Police.

Stephen sent us pictures of two cars that look like they’ve been stolen and torn apart:

Two vehicles appeared overnight on 1st Ave NW between 73rd and 74th. They have parts removed and the interiors appear ransacked…Maybe they were stolen in the same neighborhood. One red Honda Civic with the trunk removed, and one green Honda Civic with taillights removed.

M sent us a note this morning about a series of small thefts from the neighborhood:

There have started to be a number of small thefts of items stored outside at apartments and homes near 65th & Phinney. We had prayer flags stolen from our porch, a neighbor had a BBQ set (tongs, mitt etc.) go missing and another neighbor interrupted some one stealing a deck chair at 2am (the person ran off).

In and of themselves these are nuisance crimes, don’t involve breaking and entering (all the items were on outside porches readily accessible to the street) but it concerns me that some one or multiple people may be trying to see how soft a target the area is before actually breaking and entering and stealing something of significant value.

I thought that perhaps the Phinneywood blog might post something just to help people be on the lookout in the area and perhaps consider adding motion lights.

Has anyone else had similar thefts recently?

Seattle Police Department has just launched a new public online reporting option.

The Community Online Reporting Program (CORP) allows the public to file police reports for certain incident types (Property Destruction, Car Prowls, Auto Accessories, Theft of Property (under $500), and Identity Theft) over the internet.

This service will allow the public to file a report at a time that is best for them without having to wait for an officer to respond or call them back. The public will be able to print a temporary copy of the report as soon as they submit it. The report will be reviewed by police personnel, and, once approved, the filing person will receive an email with a copy of the final report attached. The report will transfer directly into the Seattle Police Department records management system and receive the same investigation and statistical analysis as if the report had been filed by an officer.

This option is for low level property crimes only. It does not replace 911 or the non-emergency number. If the caller feels that they are in danger, or the crime just happened, or the suspect may still be there, 911 is still the best option. The Community Online Reporting Program is an option for people that want to report a low level theft, but do not necessarily need an officer to respond in person.

The web-based crime reporting service can be accessed by going to the Seattle Police Department’s homepage (http://www.seattle.gov/police) and clicking the “File a Report” Quick Link.

The people who work directly with our neighborhood in preventing crime could soon be out of a job. The six civilian crime prevention coordinators for the Seattle Police Department, including North Precinct coordinators Diane Horswill and Neil Hansen, have been told they’ll lose their jobs next spring when grant money runs out.

Diane Horswill and Neil Hansen.

The crime prevention coordinators work directly with residents doing everything from setting up block watches to going door to door to warn about recent crimes. They’ve been part of the police budget up until last October, when the positions then became paid for with federal grant money. That ends on March 31 of next year.

“We are the link between the community and the police department,” said crime prevention coordinator Terrie Johnston from the west precinct. “Patrol officers are often promoted or transfer out. We’re the ones in people’s living rooms and churches.”

Johnston and her fellow coordinators have logged hundreds of community meetings over the past year. She worries that officers and precinct bosses won’t be able to give residents one-on-one attention if the crime prevention coordinators are let go.

“When we’re gone, who will take the time?”

Councilmember Tim Burgess, who chairs the Public Safety and Education committee, tells us his office is closely tracking the issue as it heads toward the mayor and council. If you’d like to voice your opinions, here’s a link to the mayor and City Council.

SeattleCrime.com reports that a 34-year-old man has been charged for opening fire on a Greenwood apartment building six weeks ago.

Prosecutors allege Vaa Ta’ase, 34, fired at a third floor apartment on 105th and Greenwood in the early morning hours of May 15th following a fight at a party.

Court records say Ta’ase knocked another man unconscious earlier in the evening after the man accused him of stealing a co-worker’s cellphone. Several hours later, Ta’ase and the other man exchanged words over the phone before, prosecutors say, Ta’ase showed up outside of the man’s apartment building and fired off six rounds. No one was injured in the shooting.

Read SeattleCrime’s full report here.