REDMOND, Wash. — Surveillance video has been circulating showing terrifying home break-ins on King County's Eastside, and concerns are brewing: can residents feel safe in their own homes?
About 25 people left their homes Wednesday night to attend a burglary prevention class at Redmond Police Department and get some answers directly from the chief. Redmond homeowner Dong Liang was among those in attendance.
"A few is, very, a lot to me," Liang told KING 5. "What's their plan, maybe, to prevent these... what we can do?"
The prevention class began after Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe met with members of the AAPI community Wednesday afternoon to hear their concerns.
"Is there a pattern that you see that's resulting in-- the cause of-- all these sudden spate of burglaries?" asked one attendee.
Lowe replied in part, "Individuals are coming to affluent neighborhoods to commit these crimes."
Lowe told the prevention class that he believes ethnicity is not what's at the heart of this issue.
"It's occurring in Redmond, it's occurring in Sammamish, it's occurring in Issaquah, it's occurring in all the affluent communities. And the commonality is that these are affluent communities," said Lowe.
In a one-on-one interview with KING 5, he said, "While we have a number of Asian, or South Asian, population, they specifically are not being targeted. This is not about a race or nationality. This is about individuals coming to affluent neighborhoods, looking to commit crimes."
Recent nearby burglaries include an attempted follow-home robbery in Kent in October, where police say the victims were also Asian-American and were also coming home from a casino.
Then, in December, a separate home robbery victimized a South Asian-American family in Redmond.
Indian-Americans in neighboring Bothell have also dealt with an uptick in burglaries, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.
In many of these cases, the burglars go after cash, jewelry and safes, according to the department, and often work in teams.
Unfortunately, most of the suspects are still outstanding.
"Do you guys look at other agency's surveillance video and compare notes when you investigate these crimes to try and find the suspects?" we asked.
"Yeah. So within law enforcement, we will put out bulletins of persons of interest."
However, getting them behind bars is one challenge, but getting them to stay there, he said, is another.
"Our system is broken," said Lowe. "That is a property crime. So if you get arrested for burglary, and in our case, the perpetrator was given a $50,000 bail, which translates to a $5,000 bond. So at $5,000, that person is able to get out of jail."
He added, "This $5,000 very likely came from stolen property from a previous crime."