SNOHOMISH COUNTY PARKS- Secure Your Car in County Parks Parking Lots

Ok, you want to go to one of our local county parks to take a walk on a trail and here I am warning you to be sure to secure your vehicle. But car prowls do happen at our trail head parking lots and I just want you to enjoy your day. I don’t want you to have a nasty surprise when you return to your car.

According to a recent article in The Herald, there were seven car prowls along the Centennial Trail between April 9 and April 16. Five of the car prowls occurred over the weekend. Officials assume that many more went unreported.

When you park your car at a trail head or a park, you should secure it just like at the mall:

• Lock your car.
• Don’t leave anything in view in the car. If you need to leave things in your car, hide them in your trunk. And county parks officials that the article quotes emphasized putting your items in your truck before you arrive at the trail head. This way anyone lingering in the parking lot won’t see that you have something that you have hidden and then smash your window and pop the trunk to take your possessions.

And, if you see anyone lingering and looking out of place in the parking lot, call 911 to report them as suspicious.

The Herald:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130422/NEWS01/704229951

 

Snohomish County press release:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Press_Release/PR_Doc/2013/04_18_13_Trailhead_Car_Prowl.html

 

ID THEFT- The Crime that Never Ends

Earlier today, The Herald published an article by Eric Stevick about the ID theft woes of the Mukilteo Police Chief (http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130418/NEWS01/704189940/-1/News#Mukilteo%2526%2523146s-top-cop-shows-ID-theft-can-happen-to-anyone%0A).

I found another article by Eric Stevick that was published earlier this month giving more examples of ID theft woes:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130407/NEWS01/704079939#Crime-that-never-ends

MUKILTEO- Police Chief Victim of ID Theft

This morning The Herald published an article about how Police Chief Rex Caldwell became a victim of ID theft in 2011. It shows that no one is immune from becoming a victim of ID theft.

The source of the theft was a public records request from a man with a grudge against the Kirkland Police Department, a former employer of Chief Caldwell, in the 1990’s. At the time, certain personal information was not redacted as it is now. This information was posted on the internet. The information came into the hands of a local criminal with a history of forgery, theft and drug addiction.

For more details on this story go to:

The Herald

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130418/NEWS01/704189940#Mukilteo%2526%2523146s-top-cop-shows-ID-theft-can-happen-to-anyone%0A

 

If you become a victim of ID theft you can have trouble with your credit and with bills that the ID thieves have created in your name.

To minimize the damage to your credit, you need to act in a timely manner. Here are the steps you need to take according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

1. Place an initial fraud alert with one of the three credit reporting companies.

2. Order credit reports.

3. Create an Identity Theft Report.

The FTC has an online checklist that helps you through the steps to complete these actions:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft

 

To prevent ID theft, here are some resources that can help:

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office “Partners in Crime Prevention”-

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/JanFeb13.pdf

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Identity Theft Tip Sheet-

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Identity%20Theft.pdf

National Crime Prevention Council ID Theft Prevention Tips-

https://www.ncpc.org/topics/fraud-and-identity-theft/fraud-and-identity-theft/tips-to-prevent-identity-theft

 

 

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING- Scammers are Already Taking Advantage of Tragedy

Jesse Jones of KING TV has issued an alert to be careful of scammers trying to take advantage of people’s good will who want to help victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. He showed a Twitter account that mimicked the official Boston Marathon Twitter account claiming to donate $1 for every re-tweet. This account is a fake account. Bottom line; only give to charities that you know! If you do not know any charities do your research. One place to look them up is the Better Business Bureau, http://www.bbb.org/.

Here is a link to his report:

http://www.king5.com/news/get-jesse/Scammers-already-using-fake-Boston-Marathon-charity-websites-203119411.html

 

SILVER FIRS- Burglary

The Silver Firs Homeowner’s Association has issued the following alert concerning a recent burglary:

“On Friday, 4/12/13 a home in the 14000 block of 62nd Ave SE, Everett WA in Division 2-was burglarized during the day while the residents were at work, the incident occurred between 8am and 5pm.  The burglar(s) entered through a locked window and likely entered from the greenbelt behind the backyard.  A laptop was stolen and there were no eyewitnesses. 

Even when we do our best to secure our homes, and watch out for each other it can still happen.

Here is a link to the two most recent Snohomish County Sheriff's newsletters "Partners in Crime Prevention"

    http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/JanFeb13.pdf

    http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/MarApr13.pdf

Another site we would recommend is http://www.crimemapping.com/ as individuals can register to receive email updates of crimes reported within so many miles of their home.

If you would prefer not to register for emails take a look at the crimes reported by a particular law enforcement agency.  We like this site because there is only a 1-2 day lag between the date reported and the date it appears on the site or email update.  To protect privacy the address are truncated by block number and street, for example 12300 block of Main Street, rather than 12345 Main Street.”

Note: Since the first of April, there has been only one other burglary reported in a two mile radius of Silver Firs, according to CrimeReports.com. This burglary occurred on 4/6/13 in the 13500 block of 47^th Dr. SE.

Also, CrimeReports.com reports that there have been three car prowls in this area since the first of the month:

• 4/7/13, 1:20am, 12300 block of 51^st Ave SE
• 4/4/13, 2:41pm, 13700 block of Puget Park Dr. SE
• 4/4/13, 12;14pm, 14400 block of 50^th Ave SE

MUKILTEO- Police Looking for Rightful Owners of Stolen Property

Here is a case of police finding a lot of stolen property on the arrest of two suspected burglars. They have cataloged jewelry, guns, power tools, and flat screen TV’s. But they need to find the rightful owners. The two links below detail the situation:

The Herald:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130405/NEWS01/704059907#Detectives-hunch-leads-to-recovery-of-countless-items

KIRO TV:

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/police-look-victims-prolific-burglars/nXGX5/

CPTED- Protecting Your Home from Crime Update

I am told that the link to the article in The Times that I posted yesterday requires a subscription to the paper to see. Here are links to two other articles that explain CPTED:

Seattle PD:

http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/neighborhood/CPTED.htm

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

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

Seattle Times article on CPTED:

http://seattletimes.com/html/designdecor/2020713548_hrehomework07xml.html?syndication=rss