SHERIFF’S OFFICE- Deputy’s Association Warns of Cuts

In an ad in this morning’s The Herald (page A4) the Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff’s Association warned that potential cuts to the Sheriff’s Office budget could hurt service to the community.

The County Executive’s proposed budget to the County Council calls for cutting 10 deputies (The Herald http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100930/NEWS01/709309798).  In addition, 27 vacant positions will be dropped.

According to the Deputy Association website, with the proposed 2011 cuts, there will be a 15% reduction of manning since last year (http://www.snocodsa.com/index.cfm). It also points out that in 2001 the county had 306 funded positions while, if approved, the 2011 budget would fund 307 positions. As far as the Deputy’s Association is concerned, this is a step backwards given the growth in population of the county.

The Deputies Association appeals to the public to contact the County Council to save these 10 positions.

You can give your opinion about the budget by contacting the County Council-

On the web, fill out the following form for testimony concerning the 2011 budget:

http://www.snoco.org/app/sco/budgettestimony/

or call (425) 388-3494

Ad published in the October 30, 2010 The Herald

AUTUMN MEADOWS- Vehicle Break-in

A homeowner’s vehicle, in the vicinity of 45th Ave SE and 122nd Place SE was broken into Thursday night/early Friday morning (Oct. 28/29).The homeowner had forgotten to lock the vehicle. The thieves took the GPS unit and sifted through the glove box.

MAYS POND- Odd Activity

On Monday, October 25, 2010, at a home in Mays Pond, vicinity of 180th St SE and Brook Blvd, a lady with some random kids (the homeowner was not sure if they were hers) came to the door looking for donations. She said she just lost her job and needed diapers for her kid. The homeowner said she contradicted herself a few times and the homeowner got a weird feeling.

Has anyone had a recent experience similar to this? Please let us know.

Note: Burglars frequently knock on the front door of houses to see if anyone is home. If no one answers, they knock down the door and take what they can. If someone does come to the door, they may use some sort of claim, often flimsy, like they are selling something, looking for someone or for an address. Recently, KOMO 4 ran an article about burglars in the Montlake district of Seattle who have been using this ploy: http://udistrict.komonews.com/content/burglars-use-feeble-ploy-case-montlake-homes.

It’s hard to know if the lady truly was in need. But if someone shows up at your door with what seems to be a flimsy story, call 911 and let the Sheriff’s Office know about them.

BOTTLE BOMBS- Lookout for Soda Bottles in Your Yard

There is an email going around warning about soda bottles that may explode in your yard. More than likely a prank, they are said to be able to cause injury.

The Sheriff’s Office occasionally receives calls about these bombs, though not recently. In the Sheriff’s Office experience, the bombs are not designed to injure anyone. Usually, juveniles will throw them from a vehicle and watch them explode. You can easily find instructions for making the bombs in the internet.

According to the email, kids will put Drano, tin foil and a little water in a soda bottle. They will leave it on a lawn, or in the experience in Snohomish County, throw it from a car. A little bit of shaking will mix the Drano, tin foil and water into a gas that explodes in about 30 seconds or less. According to the email, there can be enough force to blow off fingers and the liquid can cause burns.

Snopes.com has an article that talks about a series of bottle bomb incidents in Washtenaw County, Michigan in April of this year:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

The advice on Snopes was to closely examine any bottle that you see lying in your yard or side of the road. Report it to 911, especially if you see signs of swelling or melting. DO NOT TOUCH IT!

KING COUNTY- King County Sheriff Looking for Victims of Cyberstalker

The King County Sheriff’s Office is looking for victims of William Pritchard who has been charged with 269 counts of cyberstalking as well as communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, harassment and extortion.


Two teenage girls reported threats from Pritchard to the school resource officer at Mariner High School. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office Pritchard made calls all over Puget Sound and there may be victims in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Thurston counties.

For more about this story, go to The Herald article:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20101015/NEWS01/710159802

The King County Sheriff’s Office requests that anyone who has received harassing or obscene phone calls from Pritchard to call them at 206-296-3311 or contact their local police department.



Note: Reference my posting on October 10th, BURGLARIES- And Social Media. Using social media and the internet as a way to gather leads to burglarize homes seems not to have taken off, even though there is the capability to do so. However, according to the National Crime Prevention Center and the National Center for Victims of Crime, over 1 million women and over 370,000 men are stalked annually in the United States (http://ncpc.typepad.com/prevention_works_blog/2007/04/title_3.html). In this modern age, stalkers have many tools to harass and threaten their victims including, spyware, GPS chips on cars and cell phones, and now social media.

According to the Stalking Resource Center of the National Center for Victims of Crime there are things you can do to protect yourself from a stalker. From their web site (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195 ):



Stalking is unpredictable and dangerous. No two stalking situations are alike. There are no guarantees that what works for one person will work for another, yet you can take steps to increase your safety.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

Trust your instincts. Don't downplay the danger. If you feel you are unsafe, you probably are.

Take threats seriously. Danger generally is higher when the stalker talks about suicide or murder, or when a victim tries to leave or end the relationship.

Contact a crisis hotline, victim services agency, or a domestic violence or rape crisis program. They can help you devise a safety plan, give you information about local laws, weigh options such as seeking a protection order, and refer you to other services.

Develop a safety plan, including things like changing your routine, arranging a place to stay, and having a friend or relative go places with you. Also, decide in advance what to do if the stalker shows up at your home, work, school, or somewhere else. Tell people how they can help you. Click here to learn more about safety plans: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Safety_Plan_GuideLines333

Don't communicate with the stalker or respond to attempts to contact you.

Keep evidence of the stalking. When the stalker follows you or contacts you, write down the time, date, and place. Keep emails, text messages, phone messages, letters, or notes. Photograph anything of yours the stalker damages and any injuries the stalker causes. Ask witnesses to write down what they saw. Click here to download a stalking incident and behavior log: http://www.ncvc.org/src/AGP.Net/Components/DocumentViewer/Download.aspxnz?DocumentID=39028

Contact the police. Every state has stalking laws. The stalker may also have broken other laws by doing things like assaulting you or stealing or destroying your property.

Consider getting a court order that tells the stalker to stay away from you.

Tell family, friends, roommates, and co-workers about the stalking and seek their support. Tell security staff at your job or school. Ask them to help watch out for your safety.

For more information about cyberstalking go to:

http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=dash_Home

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE- Partners in Crime Prevention – Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. This issue of the newsletter devotes itself to information about how the Sheriff’s Office handles domestic violence cases, where and how to get help, and how you can help a victim:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/SepOct10.pdf

BURGLARIES- And Social Media

Over the past few months there have been warnings about telling people that you are going on vacation over social media such as Facebook and Twitter. A group calling itself Pleaserobme.com (http://pleaserobme.com/) posted Tweets of people advertising their trips. Their point was that anyone could take that information and burglarize the house of someone on vacation.


Stories in the national media have popped up talking about the potential problem. In early August CNN ran an article about a burglary in Indiana attributed to a Facebook posting (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/05/facebook-friend-or-foe/?iref=allsearch). In early September, a burglary ring in New Hampshire received publicity when police revealed that some of their victims had posted their vacation plans on Facebook (http://mashable.com/2010/09/11/facebook-places-burglars/).

In the Indiana and New Hampshire incidents the burglars had access to the victim’s Facebook accounts as friends. So, they either knew the victim or the victim allowed the burglar to become a “friend.”

With all of the talk about this “problem” there really have not been many reports of burglars using social media for leads to find empty houses. According to at least one of the sergeants at the Sheriff’s Office, they have not seen a rash of burglaries that they can attribute to social media. So what’s the problem?

First, social media is so new we don’t know quite how to use it. Those of us who might be older probably look on social media with suspicion. We just won’t use anything that we don’t understand. Youth, though, take to this new stuff like honey. Think all of the talk about “sexting.” If this social media phenomenon is truly useful, there must be a happy medium where the old become more daring and find uses and the youth becomes more careful and figures out how to protect itself from harm.

Second, many of the features of social media are designed to share information to anyone who will listen. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, thinks that the more sharing of information the better. Not everyone shares that vision, hence the effort to “strengthen” Facebook’s privacy settings.

Third, criminals use new technology. They use cell phones, texting, and emails to coordinate their crimes. ID theft bloomed with the increased use of credit and debit cards. Online purchasing gave another potential source for ID theft. Devices that thieves can use to easily swipe cards to collect account numbers (in a restaurant, store or at an ATM) have made us more vulnerable. Email phishing schemes attempt to trick us into giving our account information. So it stands to reason that criminals will migrate to using social media.

But have criminals found an effective way to use social media to commit burglary? So far, the most practical method seems to be when the burglar is a “friend” of someone on Facebook or Twitter; and that someone mentions that they are going to be away from home on vacation, going to be gone over a weekend, or going to a bar or lounge. That could provide an opportunity. The burglar probably already knows where the victim lives. If not he could easily do a Google search or look in the victim’s profile.

Most burglary prevention advice consists of keeping doors locked, keeping a house in easy view of the street, and making the house look occupied (pick up newspapers and handouts, keep some lights on). The advice comes from the experience that burglars will check out a (or their) neighborhood for houses that give them the opportunity to enter, take something(s) worthwhile and get out without getting caught or hurt. This means physically going through neighborhoods.

So what to do?

First, don’t discount social media as a method of communicating with your friends or acquaintances. Know its’ capabilities and its dangers.

Second, as in any other aspect of life, be careful of what you say and to whom. Before social media, you probably would not announce to the whole world that you are going on vacation. You might tell only those close relatives or friends. So, on social media sites, take advantage of privacy settings to limit your message to your friends or followers. And be careful of who you allow to be a friend or follower. If you leave your privacy settings open to the whole world then don’t talk about your private life.

Third, when you are away, follow the common sense crime prevention advice that police departments have been giving for decades. When you are away from your house, lock your doors; make your home look occupied (lights on, maybe a radio turned on) and (especially when you are on vacation) have a trusted friend or neighbor pick up your mail and your newspapers and handbills.

Old advice may be just as applicable with new technology and new ways of doing things.

Have you been victimized by a burglar who used social media find you? Was he a friend or follower or did he use a different technique to find you?

LYNNWOOD- $3,000 Wheel Chair Found

LYNNWOOD- $3,000 Wheel Chair Found


The stolen truck that had the $3,000 wheel chair this is used by a boy with cerebral palsy has been found.

For more information go to KING 5 TV:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Stolen-truck-for-special-needs-boy-found-104389519.html

LYNNWOOD- $3,000 Wheel Chair for Special Needs Boy Stolen

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office is looking for a red 1994 GMC Jimmy truck that was stolen from a Lynnwood apartment complex. The truck contained a $3,000 wheel chair that was used by a boy who has cerebral palsy, doesn't walk, talk or feed himself. And he is blind.

The Washington license number for the Jimmy is 908 VSU. If you see this vehicle please call 911.

For more information about this situation go to KING 5 TV:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Special-Needs-Theft-104311979.html