Organized crime and the homeless
Police calls have dropped yet lawlessness reigns
The moment I heard the smashing of glass, I knew it exactly what it was. I had heard that exact sound dozens of others times over the last month. Even before looking up I grabbed my phone and pointed it towards the sound and started taking photos. Ten feet away was a black Expedition SUV and within a few seconds a man in a black shirt wearing a backpack sprinted away holding a laptop, briefcase and gym bag. I ran over and saw that the rear window was completely smashed which confirmed I had just witnessed, a smash and grab. A smash and grab is a particular form of burglary or looting that involves smashing a window of a shop or car and grabbing the valuable inside then making a quick getaway, without concern for setting off alarms or creating noise. Without thinking I pursued this man. I decided in that moment enough was enough. I was fed up. I was tired of the lawlessness and was going to do something about it. I didn’t know who he was, who he was with and I didn’t care. I was pissed and would reclaim what wasn’t his and return them to the rightful owner. I would also make sure this person was held accountable and had his day in court.
Across the street from the incident I was participating in a trash cleanup with We Heart Seattle, The Pearl district and Bybee Lakes Hope Center. We Heart Seattle is an action-based, boots-on-the-ground movement that organizes trash cleanups in public spaces and offers resources to those in need. I had first heard of them in late 2020 when I read about their founder Andrea Suarez. She started the movement after realizing one day she wanted to be a part of the solution. COVID had slowed the world down and she saw first hand everyday as the homeless crisis continued to grow as did the trash She drove to the store, bought trash bags and kitchen tongs and began cleaning up her neighborhood. She started her facebook page and within days volunteers were joining her. She was a force to be reckoned with and within a month she had dozens of volunteers, branding and everybody was talking. I drove up to Seattle a few months later, met her and realized she was a true leader and I wanted to get involved and help the movement grow. A few months later I became their Board President.
Just before the smash and grab I was with a few dozen volunteers in the Pearl district completing a trash pick. We had just formed a partnership with the Pearl district neighborhood association, hands down are the most motived, passionate group of neighbors I have ever met. They like me have made it our mission to reclaim and restore our cities. If all neighborhood associations were like them, we could end this crisis in weeks not years.
Just across the street from where we were standing is where the smash and grab occurred. The dichotomy was apparent. On one side of the streets were citizens, cleaning up and restoring their city, while on the other is one doing the opposite. Perhaps it was that clear example between right and wrong that made me chase him.
I caught up to him just as he was turning the corner on 14th and NW Couch and screamed “stop!” them immediately a much louder and angrier “STOP!” He looked back at me startled and dropped the first bag. My friend grabbed it and held it for safe keeping as I continued my pursuit.
As he ran down the block we both ended up in a full sprint. He was at least twenty years younger than me, but my adrenaline kept me close. He weaved in and out of cars, jumped over a garbage can and slid over the hood of a car. My friend John Hollister, twenty years older than me and one of the Pearl District volunteers stayed close.
Several blocks later he started to slow down and I got closer. He momentarily ducked behind a parked car and then I chased him around it twice. He was breathing heavily and begged me to stop chasing him. I finally caught up to him and cornered him into a doorway. He used his left arm to push me away. I grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him into the door. He screamed “Leave me the f*ck alone bro”. I continued to hold him and demanded everything back. He tried to get away but was unable as I held him tighter. He then handed me everything he had stolen while repeating “I didn’t do anything” several times. He was clearly scared but also surprised. His behavior made me think I was the first person to ever chase and stop him. John arrived and he called 911. We gave the operator a very detailed description, and she told us it would take at least twenty minutes and that we needed to let him go. We did so and he ran off but decided to continue to pursue from a distance and update 911 with his location. As we caught our breath we then witnessed a series of remarkable events we never expected.
While waiting for the police to arrive we stayed about a block behind the man who was now just walking. He no longer thought he was being followed, but also knew the police were called. We watched him take off his shoes, shirt and cut his blue jeans into shorts. Within thirty seconds, he looked likes a completely different person. We called 911 back and gave the new description and his new location.
A middle aged man wearing a ‘Just do it’ NIKE hat suddenly rode up to me on his circa 1980s huffy, grabbed my shoulder told me to stop following. He said “I’ll make serious trouble for you”., I knocked his arm off me stood my ground and told him I was not going anywhere. He looked into my eyes and saw I was not going to back down so he retreated. I caught back up to the thief who had just turned a corner and observed as two other homeless placed a blanket over him and then walked away. If I had not seen it I would have easily walked past him. We called 911 again and let him know he was now hiding under a blanket several blocks away.
As John spoke to the operator, a lady wearing a black jacket and minis skirt lunged at me and tried to take my phone. She held on tight and with all her might tried to take it from me. Another man arrived on a BMX and grabbed my arm. I got her to let go and let the new man know I meant business and to stay away. He got the message and stayed on his bike. He did though also threaten me and said “Watch your back”. As I questioned this lady on why she was trying to take the phone she saw two city employees in yellow vests and started screaming “Help I am being harassed!”, hoping they would believe her. They looked in our direction then looked away and kept working. She continued screaming and the man jumped out from under the blanket ran away with another group of individuals that seemed to appear from nowhere. There were five of them and he blended in with them in the middle and walked away.
Jon called 911 once more and they finally told them they would not pursue because we were not the victims. We asked the operator to reconsider, reminding her we were eyeball witness, filmed it and knew exactly where he was. She reiterated they would not pursue and told us to do the same.
The last few photos I took was of him jumping into a car. It came out of nowhere and it was clear they were following us the entire time. The driver got out, stared me down then jumped back in and sped off.
This entire event happened over a twenty minute period and about twenty blocks. While relieved I got the items back, I was also very frustrated with how impossible it was to get a police officer to arrest a clearly guilty person. That is when it dawned on me why smash and grabs and most other crimes now occur in the middle of the day with multipole witnesses. There are no consequences. What I witnessed was organized crime. There were spotters, enforcers, harborers, a woman screaming fake claims to distract what she had done and a getaway driver. All told there was at least twelve people involved and all did not hesitate in getting physical and to threaten anybody that got in their way. They were very organized and it was clear they had done this dozens if not hundreds of times before.
We walked back to the vehicle with the items, just as the family arrived. They were visited from St. Louis and celebrating their fathers seventieth birthday. They had no idea they were parked in the wrong area and just thankful to have everything back. The laptop specifically was a work laptop and the owner told me he would have lost everything including his job. Some major cities have seen a drop in police calls, and have concluded there must therefore be a a drop in crime. I would argue crime is worse than ever before and reason for the drop in police calls is because witnesses and victims of crimes have stop calling. Calling 911 and non-emergency we now wait record times. To the ones able to patiently wait are often then told they will not pursue. I have spoke to dozens of victims of crimes the last few months and they all told me they stopped calling the police because it is a waste of time.
This is excellent news for the criminals. Progressive cities continue to decriminalize, defund and even encourage rioting. They do so because for them it is about social justice. They defend and even justify crime because the only reason it is occurring is because the ones committing it are victims of a capitalistic society. Our police departments are short staffed and now much decide which calls to talk and others to ignore. Smash and grabs are apparently low on their priority list making it high on the priority list for criminals. This is not an isolated incident. I saw the same man and his cronies a few weeks later doing the exact same thing. Knowing the police would not pursue, I did not call. I would have chased him down again, but was with family. When I originally shared this incident online and I received multiple comments from activists praising these criminals. According to them they were only doing this because they had no choice. I asked what they thought about the victims and one chimed in and said they were ‘white privilege’ and thus the crime was justified. One took it a step further and commended the crime stating this was a revolution and we are “taking back what is ours” One of these activists runs a major homeless non-profit in my community.
As I write this my friend Angela from PDX real shared a recent smash and grab and will cost the owner $400. Her page is a must follow. Our cities have become a mecca for lawlessness. This will continue if we do nothing. Its time we did something. Vote differently and support the ones making a difference evert day. Movements like PDX real, non-profits like We Heart Seattle and programs like the Bybee Lakes Hope Center are changing peoples lives everyday. Sometimes it can feel like the efforts we are making is not enough. Homelessness, addiction and lawlessness are the worse its ever been. There is a growing movement though of dedicated, passionate, relentless citizens that will not stop until we reclaim and restore our once beautiful cities. Join us.
This post really is something which should be preserved through history. And I am sure you have no idea why.
I used to be a political conservative, wrote a book, and thought the nation was in an ideological battle. I thought ideology was a thing, but then saw how things really worked. It turns out the political left/right is actually all run by the same thing, a massive sort of non-state intelligence operation, bigger than the CIA, and funded by whoever runs the world. Politics is just used to divide us, so we will not see "it." It showed up in my life, and was just like this, only with suburban soccer moms, and retired geriatrics. It has networks like this all throughout every clique in society.
You have no idea what you bumped up against. It is the biggest intelligence operation in the world. When the guy changed his appearance so quickly and effectively, that was likely training, and he has likely been playing this game from a kid, brought in by his parents who were also in. They actually have two to three week courses set up as sleep-away camps which the parents in domestic surveillance will send their kids to down in Florida. They learn how to alter a silhouette or do a costume change on the fly., how to use comm gear and handle hidden cameras.
It sounds nuts, but I would not be surprised the community is being ruined by the intel op to drive down property prices so something like Blackrock can swoop in, buy it all up cheap, and all these people will be told to head to a new community to ruin it and depress prices. It is why the cops were barred from responding by their command.
I have written extensively about the most visible part, the surveillance, which I see all the time, but it goes so much deeper. If you are opposing the zeitgeist to ruin cities, and forming a group, which is even worse, it is a safe bet this thing will show up in your life to intimidate you more aggressively now.
If it does, please stop by my site, and post your experience on my surveillance page. Ignore the "conservative" part, as I am now much more non-ideological, and simply opposed to the intelligence operation running these networks. Everyone who is a victim is my brother, or sister. I hope they skip by you, but if not, please feel free to stop by, if only for moral support.
https://www.anonymousconservative.com/blog/surveillance
"One of these activists runs a major homeless non-profit in my community."
I urge you to report this individual to the board of his nonprofit, the top elected leader of the government who contracts with the nonprofit, the government's head auditor and the local media.
Like many Portlanders, I have long suspected that local activists holding far-left political beliefs condone criminal conduct and drug use by homeless people. Those activists are standing in the way of solving the crisis of homelessness, crime and addiction that are slowly killing the city. It's time for the public and elected officials to know who exactly is taking money from the taxpayers while condoning criminal behavior and a breakdown in law and order. There is no doubt that the voter-taxpayers of Portland would fire that radical activist on the spot if they had the power to do so.
Once again, your reporting puts local media, especially The Oregonian/OregonLive, to shame. Frankly, it would not surprise me if there were people at the paper who believe that Portland's down-and-outers are committing crimes because they have no choice and that the victims deserve it because of white privilege. Well, when the paper's editor is fixated on condemning white Portland for racist views and actions from half a century ago, it's not surprising the publication isn't getting around to telling Portlanders the sordid and alarming truth behind Portland's dismal crime statistics.
One final thought: Have you considered reporting to the police the multiple threats of bodily harm you received from the people who accosted you during your chase along with their photos? I assume all the people you ran into were armed. They don't have much to lose and they know our district attorney is soft on crime. You might consider increasing your security to protect yourself from retribution.