Neighbors hope surveillance video helps nab car prowler
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SEATTLE -- Car break-ins are a problem across Western Washington, but the residents in one Seattle neighborhood says the crooks just keep coming back.
Now, thanks to new surveillance video, they have an idea who they're looking for.
One of the first things thieves check for is whether the car is unlocked. Windows are easy to smash, but that can be noisy. The crooks who've been targeting one Lake City neighborhood tend to keep looking until they find an easy mark.
Newly obtained surveillance footage shows a thief getting into a car through an unlocked latch. He spends some time hunting for valuables, not realizing a camera is recording his every move.
"He was trying to look for coins, I believe, in that side, but there was nothing there," said Jewis Bagaoisan, who installed the security camera after having a GPS system stolen.
Although the thief got away, the camera captured a clear shot of his face, and Bagaoisan hopes police can use it to end the burglaries and break-ins that have plagued his neighborhood.
"It's been going on in the neighborhood. I mean, our other neighbor across from us got hit twice already," he said.
Steve Clemens had his home ransacked twice in the past year and said thieves routinely target his car.
"If I left it unlocked, it was a 50-50 chance somebody would have gone through it," Clemens said.
Other Lake City neighbors have learned that valuable lesson the hard way.
"I'll get in there in the morning and it will be rifled through. I can tell they went through my glove box and whatever else," said Yvonne Snyder.
The man in Bagaoisan's surveillance video checked the next car down the driveway, but gave up when found it was locked.
Neighbors hope the man is nabbed sooner than later, because they say they worst thing to lose is their sense of safety at home.
"The next day it really sunk in and I hated being at work," Clemens said. "I just wanted to get home to protect my place, my home, my stuff."
Aside from the obvious advice of keeping your doors locked, the best way to protect yourself from car prowls is to not leave valuables inside.
Now, thanks to new surveillance video, they have an idea who they're looking for.
One of the first things thieves check for is whether the car is unlocked. Windows are easy to smash, but that can be noisy. The crooks who've been targeting one Lake City neighborhood tend to keep looking until they find an easy mark.
Newly obtained surveillance footage shows a thief getting into a car through an unlocked latch. He spends some time hunting for valuables, not realizing a camera is recording his every move.
"He was trying to look for coins, I believe, in that side, but there was nothing there," said Jewis Bagaoisan, who installed the security camera after having a GPS system stolen.
Although the thief got away, the camera captured a clear shot of his face, and Bagaoisan hopes police can use it to end the burglaries and break-ins that have plagued his neighborhood.
"It's been going on in the neighborhood. I mean, our other neighbor across from us got hit twice already," he said.
Steve Clemens had his home ransacked twice in the past year and said thieves routinely target his car.
"If I left it unlocked, it was a 50-50 chance somebody would have gone through it," Clemens said.
Other Lake City neighbors have learned that valuable lesson the hard way.
"I'll get in there in the morning and it will be rifled through. I can tell they went through my glove box and whatever else," said Yvonne Snyder.
The man in Bagaoisan's surveillance video checked the next car down the driveway, but gave up when found it was locked.
Neighbors hope the man is nabbed sooner than later, because they say they worst thing to lose is their sense of safety at home.
"The next day it really sunk in and I hated being at work," Clemens said. "I just wanted to get home to protect my place, my home, my stuff."
Aside from the obvious advice of keeping your doors locked, the best way to protect yourself from car prowls is to not leave valuables inside.
No surprise that he's got the bony face of a tweaker. Scavenging for his drug sustenance like a zombie wandering through the night.
the faces of meth.
If anyone is interested in making their own system- you can get night mod cameras for $18 a pop, a 4 channel dvr card is about $13, you can use zone minder (linux) or ispy (windows) for the recording/motion activation part. Toss it all into a unused computer (I would recommend 1.6ghz+ and you have a full setup for really cheap :)
 @Mongo400 Any camera you buy for $18 will have such poor resolution as to be worthless.
Sorry folks. If you want police protection the way it was, you'll need to lobby your republican house critters in DC. Â Until they restore the tax rate that we had in the 90s on the people whose AGI is over 250 (we're talking AFTER they take all their deductions,) cities and counties and states will suffer. Â Just curious if anyone has bothered to look at the tax rates under Clinton, and under Bush, for the billionaires? Â How about under Reagan? Â There was a reason why we had schools that were funded, adequate police, free after school programs for your kids, job training programs, etc. Â You'd be shocked to see what the tax rates used to be. Â Even if we just went back to the rates under Clinton, we'd have police grants, jails that were funded, etc. Â It's all related. Â The guys like the one in the video? Â Sorry, his job was sent to China by the guys that you're cheerleading for all the time. Â
 @DT I agree with some of your points but I don't blame outsourcing as to why these scumbags steal. Almost all of them were thieves and/or drug addicts long before before we found ourselves in "this economy."
It looked to me like he was talking to someone. Voices in his head perhaps?
So we have everybody in the USA feeling they deserve our stuff these days eh. How wonderful. I worked for my stuff. This is NOT what we have to put up with. And having video/pictures isn't going to stop a druggie. They too feed off of your tolerance. Tell me again that "this is the cost of living in Seattle". Perhaps we should just rid ourselves of stuff and give in then. That, or have free bins of your stuff layin around, just in case. After all, these poor people are just trying to survive, and they vote too.
Why would you leave your car unlocked let alone leave anything in it worth taking? Thieves can get into any car if they really want to but don't make it easy on them.
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 @Petwlkr We leave our car unlocked because the neighborhood prowler has a habit of breaking or shooting windows and we have tinted windows. We've made it a habit of making sure we don't leave valuables inside.
 @queenofthenight  @Petwlkr Isn't that the same as leaving a plate of food for a raccoon? You are just making it easy for someone to steal the car. Forget what may be inside for a car prowler.
Whatever the excuse (budgets, priorities, community relations, etc.) it appears we live in a time when government gets to pick and choose which laws they enforce. I really doubt the police will act on this even with a video of the guy committing a crime. If the unfortunate residents make posters of this guy and post them in their neighborhood it may spook him for a while. Dr. Cyclops is probably a regular in that area during the daylight hours, so everyone who sees him should kindly but firmly shout "stop breaking into our cars" and provide some social pressure. I wonder what Ken Schram would say about this.
Who the hell is this guy...Dr. Cyclops?
The kids call it "car shopping" atleast that's what somebody told me last week after somebody got in my car and looked in the ashtray for money (they left the ashtray open, that's how I knew somebody had been in my car) and then later I noticed  a flashlight I had was gone, luckily it was slim pickins for the thief.
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And this is out in a little town, it is happening everywhere.
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Good luck catching the guy.
I'm not one to advocate for the po-po, but we have stretched their budget pretty thin and this is not a high priority.
Live with your decitions. My house has been broken into 3 times in the last 6 months, it's on me to make sure it doesnt happen again. Reality is what it is.
 @Hopp The "po-po"?? Are you from the South perhaps? My sister lives in NC; I know everyone there calls the police that but I have never heard it anywhere else.
 @Petwlkr I get that all the time but usually from my inner city accent, not from typing.
Queen Anne and school at Franklin is as far south as I get.
Happy Thanksgiving!
It's too bad he didn't have a motion alarm on the camera to let him know that someone was outside... he could have caught the guy red handed. I'd love for someone to try this in my driveway - they'd be in for a very, very bad night.