With Christmas coming, delivery companies are busy delivering packages to our homes. Sometimes we receive packages throughout the day.
With all of the packages on porches throughout
neighborhoods, anyone can steal a package right off of any front porch. Package
theft is truly a crime of opportunity with little skill needed to take a
package.
Safewise, an organization that researches and educates
the public about home and community safety, recently published its annual
Package Theft Report. Based on a nationwide survey, it estimates that 260
million packages were stolen from front porches in the last 12 months. That is
an increase of 50 million packages over its 2021 report.
The Safewise report shows that 79% of Americans have
had at least one package stolen in the last year. Over half have had multiple
packages stolen in the past 12 months. Most stolen packages are valued between
$50-$100. Safewise estimates the total loss to package theft to be $19.5
billion each year.
The report also ranks major metropolitan areas on
where porch pirates strike most. The Seattle-Tacoma area ranks second behind
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose.
Since package theft is a crime of opportunity, some prevention
tips to prevent package theft include not having the package on your front
porch. Some recommendations include holding the package at a UPS store or FEDEX
store for pick up by you. You can also ask Amazon to deliver your package to a
nearby Amazon locker where you can pick it up.
Keeping the package out of view of the street is your
next best tactic. One crime expert quoted by Safewise, in an attached video to
the report, pointed out that if your front porch is 25ft or further from the
street, you probably have less chance of your package being stolen. That may be
because it is less likely to be seen from the street. If your house is not
lucky enough to be that far from the street, you can instruct the delivery
company to place the package out of site or even on a side of your house or in
back, where no one will see it. You can also purchase a secure locker that you
bolt to your porch where the delivery driver deposits your package.
Other actions you can take include,
·
Sign up for delivery alerts so that you
know when your package is delivered.
·
Require a signature for the package. This
requires that someone is home to accept the package. If no one is at home to
accept the package the driver will not leave it.
·
Have a camera, such as a doorbell camera, viewing
your front porch. The camera may deter a few porch pirates, but if it doesn’t
you have evidence that you can turn over to deputies for their investigation.
·
Ask a trusted neighbor to pick up your
package as soon as possible after it is delivered.
Safewise:
https://www.safewise.com/blog/metro-areas-porch-theft/
South Snohomish County Crime Watch:
https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2021/12/snohomish-county-sheriffs-office-asks.html
USA Today:
