A group of Ballard residents who are tired of waking up in the morning only to find their car windows shattered and belongings stolen organized a community meeting last week to talk about a rash of car prowls in recent months.

The latest incident involved George Donovan's GMC sports utility vehicle. Four thieves showed up at 4 a.m. and broke out the rear window before searching the car for wheel locks used take off the custom wheels.

The thieves propped the car up on bricks they found in yards and stole all four of his tires and wheels.

Donovan and his wife own several cars and they have experienced four break-ins in the last eight months. The latest theft was their third this year alone.

Don Meyers, a Block Watch Party member had $500 worth of tools stolen from his car on August 31. He has been told by police there is not much they can do, except write up reports car owners can submit to their insurance companies.

Meyers spoke to his neighbors about the problem and set up the meeting. In attendance were City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, Assistant City Attorney Edward J. McKenna, Seattle Police Sergeant Dianne Newsom and 15 concerned residents.

This street, bordered by Northwest 70th and Northwest 73rd Streets had been relatively crime free in the past.

"There has been a serious increase in the last few years. Now it seems to have intensified," said Meyers. He pointed out that cars have been prowled on other nearby streets.

McKenna said auto theft is statistics are down substantially in the north end of the city, but acknowledged that does not mean there is not a problem in this particular area of Ballard.

Several residents expressed their suspicion that one home in the neighborhood is being used to sell illegal drugs.

One man said there has been heavy traffic going to and from the home. Another said he has seen people going up to the house and exchanging things at the door.

Newsom, who is the sergeant of the North Precinct's Community Police Team asked for the address of the problem home and said she would stop by there to talk to the occupants. She will also pass on the information to the precinct's Anti Crime Team.

Methamphetamine is the drug of choice in the city's North end said Newsom. One thief stole from 25 cars a day to pay for his expensive addiction she said.

Newsom said when there are drug houses, crimes tend to occur in the surrounding area. Some addicts will take stolen merchandise directly to drug houses to exchange for drugs.

Last Christmas, Janice Mears parked her car in the driveway of her home and it was broken into. A neighbor's car was also broken into around the same time. "They made a nice mess and stole some pocket change," said Mears.

A month before that, Mear's mother-in-law's car was parked in front of her home and it was targeted by thieves.

"Another neighbor had a car stolen," said Mears during that same month.

A number of residents complained about slow responses by police when they are called.

"We don't have enough police officers," said Newsom. "These officers are busy, especially at night. They go from call to call on a priority basis. There are few officers in this large number of square miles."

Newsom worked North Seattle patrol on a Saturday night recently and said officers each had eight to ten calls waiting on their computers to respond to.

Steinbrueck is a member of the city council's Public Safety Committee chaired by Councilmember Nick Licata. He said the police are overtaxed and under resourced. "Public safety is a paramount duty. Neighborhoods are not safe today," he said.

While calls to 911 are up dramatically, the level of police staffing has remained flat since 1985. There are 1270 police officers in the department.

Only half of those officers are in patrol roles. At times there are only 80 officers on duty in the whole city, said Steinbrueck while the city population has been growing.

There were 47,600 crimes in various forms in Seattle last year with a less than 15-perecent arrest rate. In auto theft, there is only a seven-percent arrest rate.

"That's a lot of crime unchecked. It's a free for all out there," he said.

"I hate to say it, crime is good business in Seattle and it's particularly good in the areas of burglary and auto theft," said Steinbrueck, who pointed out that his home has been burglarized twice and his car broken into several times. He has stopped buying his wife jewelry after their house was ransacked during the last break-in.

Newsom advised people to install video cameras, add motion activated lights outside their homes, record license plates of suspicious cars, get to know their neighbors and to confront people who don't seem to have any business in the area.

"Do not leave anything in the car," added Newsom.

McKenna told the group video cameras can be bought online for $150 that activate when there is motion detected. He said television news shows surveillance video of crime suspects all the time, seeking the public's help in identifying suspects.

"We have never lost a case with video," said McKenna.

Steinbrueck would like to see 20 more police officers hired in 2007 and 20 more hired in 2008. "We should have 250 more cops in the next five years," he said.

People at the meeting were encouraged by Steinbrueck to attend city budget meetings to advocate for more police services.

Car prowls reports are on file each week at the Seattle Police Department's North Precinct.

Between Oct. l20 and 24, seven reports regarding car prowls in the Ballard area were on file. This did not include reports from Greenwood, Crown Hill or Phinney Ridge neighborhoods.

Most of the incidents occurred overnight. A thief got into a 1999 Saturn through the driver's side door on Oct. 20 on Mary Avenue and took the stereo. The next day another car stereo was stolen on First Avenue Northwest with a dashboard left damaged.

On Oct. 22 the owner of a 1996 Ford found his passenger side tires and wheels missing. A 2006 Toyota was found with its rear window smashed by a pipe wrench between 8 a.m. and noon.

A thief found a purse on the seat of a car in broad daylight on Fourth Avenue Northwest and broke the passenger side window to steal it while the victim was inside a building working. This was on Oct. 24.

That same day, thieves were caught tampering with a 1997 Honda parked on Northwest 45th Street. They ran off when seen by witnesses, but left a damaged door handle in the break-in attempt.

Dean Wong may be reached at dino@robinsonnews.com