Nearly 100 Burien and SeaTac residents descended upon the Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien on April 11 for a free two hour seminar focused on burglary education and prevention.

Presenters included King County Sheriff’s Operations Captain DJ Nessel, Crime Prevention Officer Doug Reynolds with SeaTac police, King County Sgt. Jon Mattsen, Burien PD Officer Henry McLauchlin and an IT representative for the City of Burien.

Burglary rates soar in Burien and SeaTac
Sgt. Mattsen, who oversees a day and night team of undercover detectives in and around Burien said, “One of the main areas that we focus on is burglaries. Burglary affects more individuals and more areas in the West Precinct than in any other area of King County … Since December of last year we have been hammered left and right by burglaries by several different groups that conduct daytime burglaries.”

Sgt. Mattsen said most residential burglaries occur on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. The reason, he said, is that more people are away from their homes during that time – either at work, running errands, visiting friends, etc. Burglary events slow way down during the weekend because the criminals know people are home, Sgt. Mattsen added.

According to Sgt. Mattsen, the demographic of southwest King County burglars is generally from 14 to 21, mostly male, mostly living in Burien and many still living with their parents, unable to afford their own home or apartment.

As to why the Burien area is getting “hammered” by burglaries since December, Sgt. Mattsen offered a number of reasons.

-It’s the economy. The more people who are out of work with no way to bring home an income, the more people will turn to crime.

-Geographically, Burien and SeaTac are easy to access from main arterial roadways connecting criminals to the area.

-Burien has a low socio-economic level overall (a sector of the population more apt to commit burglaries) sitting next to small pockets of nice neighborhoods (ideal targets for a burglar).

-Southwest King County has the highest population of Department of Corrections offenders, or ex-cons, in all of King County

-Organized gangs are turning to burglary operations, targeting homes for guns and gold. Sgt. Mattsen said gold is an ideal bounty because it can be sold to a gold store instead of a pawn shop. While pawn shops require ID to sell something, gold shops do not, so once the stolen goods are sold there is no way to track the thief.

-Shifting crime patterns. Sgt. Mattsen said two years ago southwest King County was dealing with a scourge of auto thefts. Once the police effectively combat a certain type of crime, the criminals shift to a different type.

The good news, Sgt. Mattsen said, is that police are now focusing on burglaries and making headway into breaking the trend. He said undercover police are driving problem neighborhoods during the workweek problem hours and have been able to arrest a handful of thieves in the act. He said after a burglary has occurred and if the responding officers find fingerprint evidence they are getting AFIS (automated fingerprint identification system) team to the scene when available to quickly identify suspects if they are in the database.

Once caught (and he said they have been able to break up “one and a half” of the four known gangs committing daytime burglaries), Sgt. Mattsen said police are working with King County Prosecutors under the Repeat Burglary Initiative to get repeat offenders put in prison for long periods of time.

Crime prevention – a dose of reality
“I always say to an audience; I can give you the answer you want to hear or I can tell you the truth,” Officer Reynolds with the SeaTac Police said in the opening of his talk, and with that he dispelled a few crime prevention myths:

-Having more police on the street does not prevent crime, Officer Reynolds said. “It makes you feel safer, but it doesn’t make you safer.”

-Burglary alarms do not prevent crime for a few reasons. Number one, 98 percent of alarms that go off are false alarms, so police cannot drop everything and put an alarm as their top priority. Second, seasoned burglars know that they still have a window of time even if they trip an alarm so they will steal the easy, small items and be on their way

-There is no evidence that surveillance cameras prevent crime, although they may assist in apprehension afterward.

Officer Reynolds said the best crime prevention technique is “You folks assuming primary responsibility for being … capable guardians in your own community. You know best who belongs, what car belongs, what time your neighbors come home, when they go to work … not me, I don’t live in your community.”

He encouraged working together as a neighborhood, either with an organized blockwatch or less formally simply watching out for each other and suspicious cars or people in your neighborhoods.

Reynolds said there are a few simple steps individuals can take to safeguard their homes including reinforcing doors with deadbolts and hardware that makes it difficult to kick down, making sure windows and doors are always locked when you leave and, in the worst case scenario where a burglary has already occurred, creating a home inventory of valuables with make, model and serial numbers along with etching your driver’s license or ID card number on the objects (this increased your chance of recovery greatly). He also recommended looking at your house like a burglar, trying to identify easy points of access that would make your home more attractive to a thief.

For more information on evaluating the environment around your home, please take a look at the West Seattle Herald/White Center News article, “West Seattle blockwatch captains learn how to use landscaping to deter crime.”

Following your instincts –when and how to call 911
King County Operations Captain DJ Nessel talked to the crowd about following their instincts when they sense something is amiss in their neighborhoods.

Captain Nessel said anytime people see something that raises the hair on the back of their neck, “You are doing what you are supposed to do; it’s called survival. Don’t second guess yourself and go for it.”

He provided the example of a woman looking out her window at 11 a.m. and seeing a 13-year-old kid sitting on the curb. She looks up a few minutes later and sees the kid across the street now, still sitting on the curb. Captain Nessel asked the audience, “How may people are calling 911?” and a handful of hands rose into the air.

“I better see 100 percent of the hands go up. What is a 13-year-old kid on a school day at 11 a.m. doing sitting on the curb in your neighborhood? I don’t care if it’s Johnny from down the street and I know his parents – what is Johnny doing out of school? If you know the parents, give them a call. If you think that little rugrat won’t rip you off blind, they will …”

You can no longer go through life being a victim, rationally thinking ‘Well, it’s just a kid sitting out there.’ Call 911,” he said. “If in doubt, call. Who pays for 911?”

“We do,” the audience responded.

Captain Nessel said when you do call 911 not to “sugarcoat” the situation. Instead of saying sheepishly, “I’m calling 911 because there is a kid sitting on a curb,” say, “There is a kid sitting on my street during school hours and it looks like he is casing the neighborhood.”

Working with your neighbors
Captain Nessel said even if your neighborhood doesn’t have an organized blockwatch, you should take the time to briefly introduce yourself to your neighbors and share contact information so everyone can keep an eye on each others’ property and communicate when they feel something is out of place.

“Get to know your neighbors. Those pair of eyes in your neighborhood are more valuable than a hundred extra cops on the Burien Police Department.”

Using technology
The seminar also covered a number of online tools southwest King County citizens can use to learn more about crime in their neighborhoods, stay informed and report crime:

-The City of Burien has an online crime map, found here, that shows types of crimes and registered sex offenders for any part of Burien during any frame of time.

-BurienAlert is a reversed 911 system where citizens can sign up for email, text messages or calls. “This emergency notification system enables the City to provide you with critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons, and evacuation of buildings or neighborhoods,” according to the City website.

-Online reporting is a fairly new system for King County where people can report any non-emergency problems through the King County Sheriff’s website. That link is found here.

Burien PD Officer Henry McLauchlin, who introduced the speakers throughout the night and offered pieces of wisdom himself, ended the seminar by encouraging everyone to get involved in or to start up a blockwatch or businesswatch and summarized with a simple request:

“Start taking care of each other,” he said.