On
Wednesday, November 13, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office met with about 86
citizens from The Falls, Gold Creek, Silver Firs as well as Pioneer Trails and
Autumn Meadows. Representing the Sheriff’s Office were Lt. Rob Palmer,
Commander of the South Precinct, Sgt. Jim Upton, Property Crimes Detective for
the South Precinct and Ann Gifford, Director of Community Partnerships. During
the meeting, the Sheriff’s Office representatives discussed recent burglaries
and car prowls/car thefts and methods that citizens can employ to prevent these
crimes.
During
the month of October, the Sheriff’s Office saw a spike in burglaries, car
prowls and car thefts in the areas of The Falls, Gold Creek, Silver Firs as
well as Pioneer Trails and Autumn Meadows.
Sheriff's
Office deputies apprehended and jailed a suspect who was associated with a red
2 door Mazda. This suspect made bail and has returned to his home in Snohomish
County. While the name of the suspect was not released, the Sheriff’s
representatives did note that any citizen can see who is in jail on the jail’s
web site (http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Corrections/). The suspect is known to knock on front doors. If no one
answers, he will go to the back of the target house and break a window or
sliding glass door to gain entry.
This
led to a discussion about what to do if someone knocks on the front door or
rings the doorbell. Knocking on the front door is a common tactic by local
burglars. Understanding this often makes some people hesitant to answer the door.
If you don’t answer the door, you expect to be protected from any potential
assault. However, if you don’t answer the door and the burglar breaks it down,
you have a potentially dangerous situation. Most burglars are risk adverse.
That is why they knock on the door. They don’t want to be seen or confronted.
If someone answers the door, they just move on to another house. But, if you
fear for your safety, you do not have to open the door. You can talk to whoever
is outside through the closed door. Be assertive. Tell them your “not
interested” in whatever the say they are selling. Or just tell them to go away.
Indicate that someone is there with you. Or bring your cell phone or mobile
phone to the door and tell them you are calling 911. Then call 911 and report
the incident.
Someone
asked if burglar alarms were worthwhile. Burglar alarms do have their place.
First of all, a sign posted in front of your house of a legitimate, well known
burglar alarm company will deter most burglars. They see the sign and move on
to another house without an alarm sign. If the burglar doesn’t see your sign or
ignores it, on entry, the loud piercing siren will quickly drive most burglars
out of your house. Some burglars, however, have been known to do a “dash and
dive” where on entry with the burglar alarm siren going off, they will grab
anything within sight of the door or window that they entered. Often, that can
be a laptop or tablet computer, purses, or other small electronics or
potentially valuable items. So, it might be a good idea, that when you leave
your house, to remove from your front door area or rear door or sliding glass
door area anything of value that could be grabbed quickly even if the siren
goes off.
Someone
else asked if “home invasion” robberies were a big problem. According to both
Lt. Palmer and Sgt. Upton, there have not been any home invasion robberies in
South County for several months. They also pointed out, that home invasions are
not a problem for the average citizen. In most cases, home invasions involve
people who know each other- the perpetrator knows the victim. For example, a
drug dealer might have a beef with one of his “customers” or with another drug
dealer. Or someone knows of a marijuana grow, or a stash of other illegal drug
and decides to robbed the owner of those drugs.
Lt.
Palmer highly recommended investing in a good safe. You do not have to spend a
lot of money to have an effective safe. But you need a place where you can lock
up important documents such as your passports, IRS tax returns (that have your
Social Security Numbers), little used credit cards, and other documents that
can an ID thief could use. Also, your valuable jewelry and guns should be
stored in your safe. The safe should be bolted to the floor or secured to the
wall.
Documents
that can help in ID theft are as highly prized as electronics or jewelry. Anything
with an account number can be useful for the burglar. One trick, involves your
checkbook. If they find it, they might take a check from the middle so that you
don’t notice it missing right away.
Sgt.
Upton also emphasized keeping an inventory of your valuables. Take pictures
from several sides of each item, including serial numbers if available. Include
a list with a description, of each item. Save this information on to your
computer or laptop. But also save a copy to a thumb drive or CD and place that
in your safe and someplace off site such as your safety deposit box or with
your insurance agent. For more information go to: http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Operation%20ID.pdf.
As
far as car prowls, Sgt. Upton repeated what I have said many times. Don’t have
anything showing in your car. When you park your car at home, remove everything
in your car, including your garage remote, and bring it into your house. When
you park in a parking lot, place anything in your car in your trunk, glove box
or console before you arrive at the parking space.
Regarding
car thefts, the key is to lock your doors! Also, do not run your car’s engine
unattended. During the winter months, some car owners will run the car engine
to warm up the car then go back into their house to get ready for the day.
Doing so gives a great opportunity for a car thief to steal the car. Many
people in Snohomish County lose their cars to thieves in this manner.
Always
be on the alert for suspicious activity. Keep a notebook handy to jot down
descriptions and times and places. Call 911 when you see suspicious activity.
Don’t worry about bothering the Sheriff’s Office or 911. Also, if you are in
the habit of taking a walk, take your notebook with you along with your cell
phone. Be alert to your surroundings. If you see a crime in progress or
suspicious activity call 911 and report it. And if possible, discretely take
pictures.
Lt.
Palmer pointed out that suspicious can be viewed with two questions as you are
observing your surroundings. What is happening that is unusual? What is usual
that hasn’t been happening?
Here
are some resources for more information about crime prevention:
Burglary
Prevention:
Car
Prowl/Car Theft Prevention:
Calling
911:
For
more information on other crime prevention topics, go to:
