Seattle is facing a costly and disruptive crime wave: smash-and-grab burglaries. These brazen acts, where vehicles often ram storefronts, are not only causing significant financial damage but also eroding our sense of security. The estimated total cost of burglaries in Seattle from August 2024 to July 2025 is projected at $235.6 million for 2025, covering direct property damage, stolen goods, law enforcement costs, and lost economic productivity. While this figure encompasses all burglaries, smash-and-grab incidents are a particularly frequent and costly subset, with individual incidents often causing $15,000–$40,000 in combined theft and damage. Annually, these specific crimes could easily exceed $10–20 million.
The impact is felt keenly by businesses across the city, especially cannabis retailers and smoke shops, which have been notably targeted. We’ve seen vivid examples:
• The Reef Cannabis (Capitol Hill) suffered $20,000 in stolen merchandise and $20,000 in damage in August 2024, followed by another attempted break-in in February 2025.…