How to Protect Yourself from Porch Pirates This Holiday Season, According to Police — Plus Tips from UPS, FedEx and USPS
"While porch piracy is a year-round opportunistic crime, there is an uptick in these specific cases during the holidays," Sheriff Carmine Marceno tells PEOPLE
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Packages on a porch (stock image).Porch pirate crimes, which center around an individual who steals packages from a person's home, have been on the rise in recent years — and this holiday season is no exception.
"While porch piracy is a year-round opportunistic crime, there is an uptick in these specific cases during the holidays, as citizens are opting for online shopping and higher volumes of packages are being delivered to residences throughout the day," Sheriff Carmine Marceno of the Lee County Sheriff's Office in Florida tells PEOPLE in a statement.
"Packages are oftentimes left out unattended for longer periods of time while the resident is away from the home, leaving them more susceptible to victimization," he adds.
Marceno's tips for shoppers this holiday season are to "take advantage of package tracking to allow better planning and quicker retrieval of delivered items" and to "consider requiring a signature for deliveries or choosing a designated drop-off location if prompted to by the company when purchasing your orders."
The sheriff also highlights the importance that homeowners "install a video doorbell system to discourage thieves from coming onto your property" and says it is just as important to "invest in security cameras for the outside of your residence that record movement and visitors, as many of them have technology that now alerts the homeowner of movement, a visitor on the property or even packages being delivered."
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A courier adding boxes to a delivery truck (stock image).Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department echoes similar sentiments, telling PEOPLE, "Porch pirates continue to be a problem for consumers and law enforcement alike."
"Clearly it happens far more often these days as we live in a time where everything is delivered and left on the purchaser’s front porch," he continues.
Some tips that Knight provides homeowners are to "set up delivery notifications so you are more likely to know when a package will arrive" and to "see if a neighbor can grab the package and hold onto it for you, or have it delivered to your place of employment" if they are not around when the package is set to the delivered.
"It is never a good idea to leave valuables sitting unattended where a thief can simply walk up and take them," Knight further explains.
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Marceno also tells PEOPLE when it is appropriate to get law enforcement involved in a porch pirate case.
"If you observe a theft of packages in person or have surveillance/doorbell footage available, contact your local law enforcement agency and share the description of the individual(s), vehicles, etc. involved, and share the footage with law enforcement," he says.
Marceno adds that "it is best practice to have evidence the package was stolen from your property prior to calling law enforcement for a report."
He continues, "The more details and evidence one can provide, the higher the likelihood the crime can be investigated as thoroughly as possible."
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Packages by a front door (stock image).UPS, FedEx and USPS — three major delivery services — also share some tips with PEOPLE when it comes to getting packages sent to a residence this time of year.
"UPS drivers are trained to place packages out of sight and out of weather when making deliveries," a company spokesperson says, highlighting UPS My Choice, which sends an email alert that lets users know when their package is scheduled to be delivered and also gives them the option to choose a specific drop-off location.
"Providing customers with outstanding service is our top priority. This includes making sure our customers receive packages safely and securely during the holiday season and beyond," a FedEx spokesperson says.
"In recent years, we’ve introduced innovative visibility technologies to give our customers added peace of mind when it comes to the reliable delivery of their packages," they add, highlighting the company's own FedEx Delivery Manager system.
As for USPS, the company — which has its own Informed Delivery management system — tells PEOPLE, "Holiday shopping means holiday shipping, and the United States Postal Service is ready to deliver your holiday mail and packages. The United States Postal Inspection Service, the federal law enforcement and security arm of the Postal Service, is working diligently this holiday season to keep the mailstream safe."
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