The weekly West Seattle Herald Police Blotter includes a list of residential burglaries that occurred over the prior week, and our most recent column showed a significant drop since Thanksgiving.

There were 24 reported burglaries the week after Thanksgiving and 11 last week.

Southwest Precinct Captain Steve Paulsen shared his insight on the recent drop, due in large part, he said, to making residential burglaries the precinct’s “major priority.”

Since Thanksgiving, the West Seattle community had experienced a significant increase in residential burglaries. The men and women of the Southwest Precinct have made apprehending the suspects in these crimes their major priority. Each time a suspicious circumstance call is dispatched, multiple officers have been dropping what they had been doing and rushing to the area.

In the past 3 weeks, we have identified 20 individuals as well as many vehicles. A number of these individuals have been committing burglaries in other Puget Sound communities. We have been collaborating with a number of police agencies who have experienced similar trends and suspects. Most if not all of the suspects are not from the West Seattle community. To date, we have arrested 8 in the past couple of weeks. Our residential burglaries have been reduced by half just within the past week. We will continue to locate and develop probable cause for the outstanding suspects.

Again, I would like to thank our West Seattle community for their assistance in reporting suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. Their observations and 911 reporting have had a tremendous impact in helping us apprehend these individuals which in return have made their neighborhoods safer.

Sincerely,

Captain Steve Paulsen
Commander, Southwest Precinct