Rantz: Seattle business owner ‘completely helpless’ as she watched her café get robbed

Just before 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Desirae Aylesworth woke up to the sound of her Ring camera system notifying her of a breach in her café. Her Seattle café was being robbed, becoming the latest victim of Seattle’s crime crisis.

Aylesworth is the co-owner of Wild Mountain Cafe in the Crown Hill neighborhood of Seattle. When she reviewed the surveillance feeds from her restaurant, she saw two young men jumping the back fence of her business, and then breaking in. She immediately called 911.

“I spent the following 10 to 15 minutes on the phone trying to get police there in time to catch them, and in the process, just was watching in real time two burglars going through my restaurant and not completely trashing the place, but definitely looking for something specific,” Aylesworth explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “And you know, it was very obvious they were after money and didn’t care too much about product or electronics or anything else, which is, you know, saving grace in the whole matter.”

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What did the thieves steal when they robbed the Seattle café?

The two thieves stole about $5,000 in cash, which was earmarked for staff tips. And unfortunately, the two suspects escaped before police arrived.

“It’s like they’re in your home, you know?” she explained. “It’s a very violating feeling. And unfortunately, I don’t live super close to the restaurant or I would have been there myself. I can’t imagine a more violating feeling than watching that happen in real-time and feeling completely helpless about it.”

What struck Aylesworth was how calm the thieves appeared to be.

“They obviously didn’t care at all,” Aylesworth said. “The alarms were blaring and they just … there’s a lack of concern for what they’re doing or what they could be doing to other people. And just seeing them so young, I don’t know. It’s very surprising to me. It’s very shocking that somebody of that age just is already not (having) a care in the world.”

It’s unclear the thieves’ ages, but judging from surveillance footage, they appear to be young. Despite the crime, though, Aylesworth doesn’t want them going to jail. They appear young enough to be course-corrected with intervention. She thinks community service would be more appropriate.

As is too often the case, the suspects are still on the loose.

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What is behind the Seattle crime crisis?

There are two issues still going mostly unaddressed that business owners like Aylesworth simply can’t overcome. Seattle Police are criminally understaffed and there’s still no real plan to tackle crime citywide, creating the perfect environment for a café or any local business to be robbed.

Seattle Police lost over 600 officers since the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. The defunding and demoralizing pushed cops out of the department, leaving the city with its fewest officers in decades.

What’s been done to meaningfully tackle the staffing challenges? Talking about how they’ll tackle the staffing challenges, but not actually tackle the staffing challenges. Inexplicably, the city of Seattle has taken recruiting almost entirely out of the hands of police, handing it over to unqualified city staff.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell talks a good game about tackling crime but then doesn’t really do anything. He’s great at giving speeches, and then not following through. Even a downtown plan to supposedly tackle “challenges” was announced on a Friday, which is where you put announcements you don’t plan on following through with.

The people who suffer the most? Generally not the isolated city leaders. Harrell gets personal police protection. Small business owners? They have to patiently wait for Seattle Police to respond to an emergency call but knowing their response rate is hampered by low staffing.

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