December 4

Are police doing something about stolen and prowled cars? Plus Yancy Noll suspect testifies

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Dec. 6: Danny Westneat has a new column on the statistics.

Update: The police statistics are here. (Opens in  Adobe Reader.)

Update: The Stranger has a discussion of parts of this – “Someday You Might Not Have To Wait Forever To Report Your Stolen iPhone – But No One Knows When That Day Will Come.”

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Can auto thieves really be 34 percent off their game over the last month?

That’s what Seattle Police statistics show, our news partner The Seattle Times reports.

Auto theft dropped 34 percent in November compared to October, from 576 cases to 382, according to the department. Thefts of auto accessories and auto parts, along with car prowls, decreased by 25 percent in November compared to October, from 1,250 offenses to 936.

In the previous month car thefts actually increased by a comparable amount, compared to 2013, police said earlier.

There were 525 reported auto thefts in Seattle during the month of October and a total of 4715 through the end of October. That’s a 38 percent increase from last year during the same time period.

One difference is that since some embarrassing news coverage, police say they have focused on such crimes during new meetings on using statistics and reports to identify crime hot spots.

They’ve also started a program to track stolen devices.

So did this make a difference in November’s statistics? Commenters on the Times story note: November was cold.

The map above shows stolen or prowled cars here since Nov. 15th. The website to report an abandoned, and possibly stolen, car is here. (Although refusing to load in IE.)

Also, the man accused of the 2012 drive-by shooting of Yancy Noll at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 75th Street is testifying today. The Times is following the story here.

The defense is using the  “road rage” argument.

About the author 

Sara W

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  1. Wouldn’t a homeless car thief want to steal more cars in the cold? Warm, dry, radio, reclining seat beats sleeping under a tree on a cold rainy night.

    Incarceration of ten prolific thieves might account for the difference. Glad to see the police appear to be doing more and succeeding at it.

    Our local meth house appears to have been abandoned, might that have some connection?

    MLL: If you follow the link to the stats, it does appear that car crimes increase with warmer and longer days, and decrease in winter.

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