Car prowlers usually get the goods

Sean Clancy's heart sank as he approached the shattered back passenger window of his Cadillac Escalade, parked about a half-mile from Safeco Field.

His subwoofers were gone. So were his amplifier, power capacitor and a box that held his speakers. A custom-installed DVD player was taken, along with his iPod, portable speakers and a collection of compact discs.
What started with a free parking spot before a Mariners game in April turned into a $5,000 headache, relieved only after a week of dealing with his insurance company and auto repair shops.

Police weren't able to return Clancy's stolen goods. More than a dozen people whose cars are broken into in Seattle each day face similar outcomes.

The number of reported car prowls dropped by nearly 30 percent in 2006. But of the roughly $6.2 million in property taken that year, only about 5 percent was recovered, according to Seattle police records.

And police say parking lots -- such as those at Safeco Field and Metro park and rides -- are prime targets for criminals who know vehicle owners will be gone for hours.

"There have been times where we've been driving 30 miles per hour with an auto thief in the back and he'll be able to pick out the cars with an unlocked door or window down," said Seattle Police Detective Todd Jakobsen, of the major crimes task force. "The best thing people can do is keep nothing in sight."

Despite seemingly easier targets, a Seattle P-I analysis of incident reports shows that 3800 West Government Way, an area inside Discovery Park, is the most common block for car prowls. At least 623 have been reported there since 1989.

Thieves also prefer the 200 block of Mercer Street, near KeyArena. Parking lots around Green Lake are also popular, with two blocks on the east and west sides of the lake accounting for at least 949 car prowls combined since 1989.

Each day, department detectives monitor 11 Seattle pawnshops, nine businesses that buy metal and a fraction of Seattle's estimated 300 secondhand stores, matching serial numbers and descriptions with those taken from police reports.

A good month has the Seattle Police Pawn Shop Unit reuniting 10 people with goods lost in a car prowl, said Detective Everett Edwards.
Clancy's prowl was typical. Thieves saw electronics visible through a window and smashed it. They overlooked other goods, such as paperwork and clothes.

"GPS devices are popular, and so are laptops," Jakobsen said. "They're looking for anything electronic."

Clancy spent a few hours in the days after the break-in searching the Internet for his missing stereo equipment, hoping thieves might be dumb enough to try selling the stuff on eBay or Craigslist.

He wasn't successful, but more and more these days criminals are fencing goods online, detectives said. With all the physical locations they keep tabs on in the city, though, Seattle police don't have time to scroll through hundreds of online listings posted each day.

"There's no way we as detectives have time to proactively check all the cases," Edwards said.

Clancy customized his car for months but didn't write down the serial numbers of the goods that were stolen. That's common among theft victims and is a big reason why many items aren't found -- along with the sheer number of theft cases -- said Jakobsen, of the major crimes task force.

Police discourage vigilante justice, but they know that theft victims are out also trying to track down their stolen goods.

"We've had victims call and say they were looking on eBay or Craigslist and saw their stuff on there," he said.

Without a serial number or clear description, it's hard to prove car electronics have been stolen. But with that information and help from victims, police can start an e-mail dialogue and arrange an undercover meeting with suspected criminals.

"For every one they get caught for, they've probably committed 50," Edwards said of car prowlers. "It's very frustrating for us, too."

Nochola Sharpe, an eBay spokeswoman, said it's "very rare" for a stolen item to be on the site, partly because of the company's 2,000-person security team "working both reactively and proactively with law enforcement."

In an e-mail statement, Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said the site's 24 San Francisco-based staff members "do not monitor or read the individual 20 million listings that are placed on the site per month."

The staff works "closely with law enforcement when the occasion arises," but Best said it's just as tough to determine which Craigslist ads are posted by criminals as it is for a newspaper classified.

Seattle detectives said they don't believe gangs specialize in car prowls, or that highly organized rings are out there exporting stolen electronics. Most car prowlers are habitual criminals who steal for thrills, Jakobsen said. The majority of thieves burrow stolen goods -- either in their homes or in stolen vehicles strategically placed around the city -- until they can be used to trade for drugs.

"We've busted people for auto theft and found 40 phones, 20 iPods and about 30 digital cameras," he said. "We've found hundreds of CDs without their cases that thieves take just to take. But because people don't put their names on the CDs or in the book, it's rare that they get them back."

In Clancy's case, his insurance company reimbursed him for everything stolen -- except for the 20 hours he lost dealing with the break-in.

"It worked out for the better because of my insurance," he said. "But I felt totally violated when it happened. I think anybody who's had their car broken into will say the same thing."

source : seattlepi.nwsource.com