The Wedgwood View reported yesterday that a break-in had occurred on the 7000 block of 24th Ave NE on October 11.

From the full police report, the homeowner arrived home in the afternoon to find her front doors open, at which point she called 911.  After police arrived, it was found that someone had entered through her kitchen window (flower pots placed on the window sill had been removed).  It was not clear at the time that anything had been taken from the house.

We move now to Thursday, October 14, and 6800 block of 17th Ave NE.

Homeowner finds the south kitchen window broken and items thrown onto the floor. Missing from the home were two laptop computers, and some video games and game systems. An older video camera had been removed from its case but left in the house.

And now to this Monday, October 18, near the corner of NE 70th St and 19th Ave NE.

From homeowner Kathie (from the NE Seattle Moms group, used with Kathie’s permission):

Our house was burglarized yesterday sometime between 9:30am and 4:30pm. We live near the corner of 70th and 19th. The burglar(s) took a rock and smashed in the window of our back door, reached through, and unlocked the deadbolt. They took jewelry, electronics, savings bonds and a small amount of cash. They went straight for the master bedroom – pulling out every drawer and dumping it on the floor. They even emptied my son’s piggy bank (clearly no shame). The police said they were likely only there for 10-15 minutes.

One thing to note – the officer said that if anyone comes to your door and seems suspicious, just call 911. There are many legitimate door to door salesmen, but he just said use your instinct – if it seems shady, then report it. After this happened, I talked to my mom who recently house sat for us. She said that someone came to the door and asked her “Where would you like your newspaper delivered?” She just said, “I don’t live here, but just leave it where you typically would.” Afterwards, she said that she thought it was a bit unusual. We haven’t taken the newspaper for 3 years so it was clearly a scam.

Since yesterday, I have talked to several people with very similar stories. Be on the lookout. And – back up your hard drives – that was the one piece of sanity I had as I was driving home yesterday after learning that we’d been burglarized – I had just backed up my hard drive, so the things that mattered (my pictures) were safe. The rest is replaceable.

What is there for a homeowner to do?  I’ll leave you with a link to the Seattle Police Department’s North Precinct Crime Prevention page. There you can find tips for keeping your home secure, data when most burglaries occur, and more.

You may also want to contact our North Crime Prevention Coordinators for more help (before their jobs disappear). Their contact information is included on the North Precinct Crime Prevention site as well.