Police reviewing property crimes

Taylor Winkel

Taylor Winkel Jul 6, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Police reviewing property crimes</h1>
                <h2><p>Seattle Police Department is reviewing how it responds to reports of property crime, according to The Seattle Times. This of course, in the wake of Danny Westneat’s column from last weekend, where he wrote about using an app to track an iPhone that was stolen from his car during</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/taylorjwinkel-gmail-com/">Taylor Winkel</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Seattle Police Department is reviewing how it responds to reports of property crime, <a href="http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/11/seattle-police-department-to-review-property-crime-response/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">according to The Seattle Times</a>. This of course, in the wake of <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024924914_westneat02xml.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Danny Westneat’s column</a> from last weekend, where he wrote about using an app to track an iPhone that was stolen from his car during a smash and grab. Even though he could pinpoint the exact location of his stolen property (purse, iPhone and $80), police reportedly told Westneat to file an insurance claim for the goods. “It doesn’t take a detective to see how punting an entire crime category over to the insurance industry could cause these types of nuisance crimes to spiral out of control” wrote Westneat. He noted that car thefts (where the vehicle itself is stolen, not just the property inside) are up more than 40 percent. Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole wants the review in two weeks. Incidentally, Chief O’Toole is scheduled to speak at <a href="http://www.seattlecityclub.org/events/november-civic-cocktail?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Wednesday's Civic Cocktail</a>. — T.W.</p>
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Seattle Police Department is reviewing how it responds to reports of property crime, according to The Seattle Times. This of course, in the wake of Danny Westneat’s column from last weekend, where he wrote about using an app to track an iPhone that was stolen from his car during a smash and grab. Even though he could pinpoint the exact location of his stolen property (purse, iPhone and $80), police reportedly told Westneat to file an insurance claim for the goods. “It doesn’t take a detective to see how punting an entire crime category over to the insurance industry could cause these types of nuisance crimes to spiral out of control” wrote Westneat. He noted that car thefts (where the vehicle itself is stolen, not just the property inside) are up more than 40 percent. Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole wants the review in two weeks. Incidentally, Chief O’Toole is scheduled to speak at Wednesday's Civic Cocktail. — T.W.

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By Taylor Winkel

Taylor Winkel is a Journalism and Political Science student at the University of Washington. Follow her on Twitter: @twinkelnews. She can be emailed at Taylor.Winkel@crosscut.com.