Crime Wave/Beacon Hill/Tues Jan 11/8:08 pm: A man was trying to get some cash out of a malfunctioning ATM machine on Beacon Hill, when a stranger approached him and showed him a gun. The stranger demanded that he hand over his wallet, but the man refused and grabbed for the stranger's weapon. The two wrestled for the gun; the stranger hit the Beacon Hill man's face; the man kicked the stranger in the shin. After some effort, the stranger regained control of his weapon and punched the Beacon Hill man in the mouth, splitting his lip open. The man fell to the ground, and just as he tried to return to his feet for a second round with the stranger, he received a blow to the head with the butt of the gun. Huffing and puffing as criminals never do in the movies, the stranger finally got his hands on his obstinate victim's wallet, only to find it empty: The Beacon Hill man had never extracted money from the broken ATM machine. The disappointed stranger returned to his car and made a quick getaway. The bleeding Beacon Hill man, however, was able to make out the stranger's license plate number. When it was later checked by Officer Peloquin, it turned out to be a stolen car from Kent.

The Art of Casing a Home/Sandpoint/Fri Jan 14/5:25 pm: This afternoon, two men came to the door of a widow and asked if she would like to subscribe to The Seattle Times. The widow told them that she already subscribed to the newspaper, and so they left. But afterward, she got to thinking: Now why would The Seattle Times send two men to a home that already subscribes to their paper? She called the Times and they told her that none of their salespeople were in her area. She hung up the phone, thought a little harder, and then made the connection: Her husband had just passed away, and his obituary was in the paper. Obviously these men had read about the death and were looking to take advantage of her moment of suffering, her moment of weakness. They were likely casing her house for a future robbery! She called the cops. The cops came right over and looked around, but didn't find anything. A neighbor told the police, though, that there had been a Seattle Times van in the area that night. The widow later told Officer Whitcomb that she could identify the suspects if she ever saw them again.

When I Get Out of Prison/West Seattle/Fri Jan 14/5:45 pm: An avid reader was surprised when she found two phone numbers on the back cover of a book she ordered from a company in Gig Harbor. One of the numbers was printed, the other was handwritten, and both were without area codes. Curious, the woman called the handwritten number and got an unknown male's taped message, which said: "When I get out of jail, hopefully you will come out of your coma, and I'll crack your head open again, 'cause I'm so stupid." The woman gasped, and called the cops. After Officer Shelmidine listened to the message, he attempted to determine the location of the message machine by a reverse check of the number, but it was not listed. It is highly unlikely this case will ever be solved.

Hate Crime/Beacon Hill/Sat Jan 15/5:53 pm: As America prepared to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, a 14-year-old black girl who was waiting for a bus on 12th Ave and E Jefferson was assaulted by three white males. They made racial slurs, pinned her down to the sidewalk, and kicked her head. One of the white males then touched her in a sexual manner, while another choked her. The assailants made their getaway to a black sedan where a white woman was waiting, and drove southbound on 12th Ave. The humiliated and bruised victim got up and limped home to her mother.