Lake Forest Park Police update

From Chief Steve Sutton

This week has been crazy already. Thank you all for your patience over the weekend with the highway closure. Your police department with the assistance of Bothell PD conducted around the clock detours beginning Friday evening and ending early Monday morning. Several drivers attempted to go through the roadblocks, they were cited. We arrested one driver for DUI – thankfully he did not hit a worker!

On Sunday evening, a report of an interrupted burglary came in to dispatch. A couple returning home on 47th Ave NE found a burglar in the house and called 911 with a description.

Within minutes, an alert LFP Officer spotted the suspect and gave chase. After a foot pursuit led them to the Towne Center, the suspect was cornered by several of the construction workers on the highway job and a couple of citizens assisted our officers make a successful arrest.

Instead of filming the incident, our citizens helped .... and that is not the national trend – thank you! The suspect was booked for residential burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, and resisting arrest. Year to date, we have arrested SIX suspects for burglaries that had just occurred.

See our stats below:

2014			2015
Reported Burglaries
Jan	8		Jan	14
Feb	5		Feb	9
Mar	8		Mar	5
Apr	3		Apr	3
May	7		May	8
Jun	11		Jun	12
Jul	11		Jul	4
Total	53		Total	55
Burglary Arrests
Jan	2		Jan	2
Feb	2		Feb	1
Jun	2		Mar	2
Apr	0		Apr	1
May	0		May	3
Jun	2		Jun	2
Jul	0		Jul	3
Total	6		Total	14

Other Highlights of the Week:

On Monday, Federal Agents arrested Christopher Gates on Federal Weapons charges stemming from an arrest made here in LFP in May. Mr. Gates was arrested for Felon in Possession of a Firearm, along with other charges. He will likely be put away for a long time!

As many of you know, a tree fell over Bothell Way last night taking down power lines during rush hour. Bad Luck for sure! Public Works, State DOT, and Seattle City Light worked to open the road as soon as possible. Detours were set up at NE 165th through the beach and heights. Obviously this was a huge impact to those who live here and those who commute through here.

I have heard some rumors that people thought the highway closure was related to the weekend construction and were very critical of us. This was an act of nature and unavoidable! Thank you for your patience!