Mike & Carolyn Olson 12302 137th Ave. E. have reported a theft. ” A men’s silver bike, a backpack blower and wooden box with beer pulls were stolen from our front porch and side yard shed around July 20th,  we did file a police report I have pictures of box and beer pulls this all most likely happened around July 20 give or take a few days.”

Hollis Barnett has informed me that a hanging basket was stolen from his front porch on the afternoon or evening of 4 July and Dr. Alston had a bicycle stolen from his front porch three weeks ago (which would have been around 13 July).

The TV news reported that thieves had removed copper wiring and piping from a number of air condition units at businesses in North Puyallup.  The cost to repair the damage is thousands of dollars.  These thefts interrupted business activity, resulted in very high temperatures and loss of business until the air conditioners could be repaired. The advantage to the thieves is probably less than $100.

The news also reported that some of the businesses concerned have now installed Closed Circuit Security Surveillance (that’s Security Cameras to you and me).  A classic case of closing the barn door after the livestock has escaped.

Let’s be on the lookout for strange vehicles and strangers in our Neighborhood. If the thieves are now hitting businesses for the copper that they can reach in air-conditioning units, they might start eyeing private homes next.

A friend texted me around 1445hrs to let me know that there was a car acting strangely in the Neighborhood. I went to my cameras and found the car he described.  The car was driving slowly and drove up one side of the street and down the other.

By analyzing the recording from the camera by my mailbox I found these things:

1. The license number of the silver car is APS5837
2. The passenger in the right rear seat is throwing small plastic bags containing a small rock and a business card for a landscaping service onto each driveway. (I picked up the plastic bag with rock and business card inside, that’s how I know what was thrown; my cameras  are not THAT good).

If you look at the 1st attached photo you will notice the rear seat passenger’s arm out the window with the package in the air around the front wheel of the car.  If you look at the 2nd attached photo you will notice the rear seat passenger’s arm still out the window and if you look at the very bottom right hand corner of the picture you will see a dark rectangle (the shadow of the bag) and just above the dark rectangle is a dark smear which is the rock in the plastic bag. The license plate number is not readable in these pictures, but it is quite clear on my computer monitor.

It’s nice to have good high definition cameras, so you can see if/when things like this happen.  As it turned out the people in the car were just doing some novel advertising.  But if they were not innocent, then I would have a nice picture of what happened, and the license number of the car.  Most important my time stamped video clip would show the car in front of my house, and the package being thrown.

I received an e-mail just before midnight on 6 July 2018 about a theft at 12216 138th Ave. E.  I am posting the e-mail below as I received it:

The house on 12216 138^th Ave. E was burgled tonight.  The house appears vacant and under construction/remodel and I suspect they were after construction tools, etc.

I heard a crash at about 10 PM.  I drove over there and found a turquoise blue, mid to late 90’s Chevy/GMC truck stuck in the mud of the front yard, spinning it’s wheels trying to get unstuck.  It had no lights on and I couldn’t see its license plate. I called the police but, while he struggled for a good 10 minutes trying to get out, he finally did and sped up 122^nd in his damaged truck.

I went back later to find the garage door open but not sure if it wasn’t just left that way before the apparent robbery.  Like I said, the house is under construction with “Private Property” signs all over and a porta-potty in the drive way.

The driveway is a big odd in the way that it curves and I believe the person had loaded up their truck and when trying to back out, they missed the curve and crashed over some large landscaping stone where he got stuck.

Anyway, just thought I’d pass that on. I so wish I was able to get that plate number but didn’t’ want to confront the guy who was obviously in a panic trying to get away.

There is a new player in our Neighborhood –  Playing the game I’ll steal your package if I can.

One of our neighbors on 136th got in touch to inform me that her daughter had witnessed a red Chevrolet Suburban pull into her driveway around 12:30PM, a woman get out of the passenger seat and attempt to steal a package that had been delivered.  When the woman realized that she was being observed she covered her face, returned to the Suburban and left.

Because she had a date, time, location and description of the vehicle I was able to search our snapshots and recover pictures of what I thought was the vehicle. I sent the snapshots to the neighbor and her daughter confirmed that this was the vehicle involved in the attempted theft.

Below are some of the snapshots I recovered from the Neighborhood Server.  If you see this vehicle in the future –  Call the Sheriff’s Office and report that a vehicle which had been used an an attempted package theft is in the Neighborhood again, presumably up to no good.  The license plate is AYL0574 .

Security cameras have been in the news lately when they recorded criminal activity. Some video footage was virtually worthless as in the case of a jewelry store robbery where the cameras were of poor quality and positioned such that their view was essentially useless.  Others were crystal clear as when a young man was dragged out of a store and murdered.

Thieves have been targeting wireless security cameras at Linwood Washington homes.  It is possible to remove wireless cameras from their mountings and get away with an intact camera which can be sold or used by the thief.  Wired security cameras are usually more difficult for thieves to remove without damage.

One easily removable camera which comes to mind is the Arlo by Netgear with its magnetic base.  Thieves recently stole an Arlo camera in Linwood by knocking it loose from its magnetic mount with a broom.

Both Dav Eide and I have been victims of camera thefts, but in our case the cameras were wired models which were destroyed when the thieves removed them from their mountings.

If you have cameras it is wise to place them where it is difficult for thieves or vandals to get to them and if possible have cameras positioned so that people approaching them are in view of another camera.

Below is a link to the KIRO Chanel 7 news report on the Lynnwod thefts.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/north-sound-news/thieves-target-security-cameras-at-lynnwood-homes/781879134

This week I got a call from a friend in Louisiana.  My friend’s sister and her husband were in a very bad accident when, on a four lane highway, an 18 year old male hit their car from behind and both cars rolled.  They will be in the hospital for a while. Their relatives and friends have been posting on Facebook about the accident and the fact that my friends will not be home for some time. On 20 June I got another call telling me that their home had been burglarized.  Someone threw a brick through a window and climbed in. They left with the family silverware and jewelry in one of the pillowcases they took from the linen closet.

Please everyone hear this –  DO NOT POST ON FACEBOOK OR OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES  THAT YOUR HOME WILL BE VACANT FOR EXTENDED PERIODS.  The bad guys look for just such information, just like they read the obituaries to find out who has died and when the funeral is going to be. If you are going to be gone, and the information is public knowledge, you owe it to yourself to also let it be known that there will be someone living at your home until you get back (whether this is true or not). It is also a good idea to let some trusted neighbors know when you will be gone and when you expect to return.