With Christmas just two weeks away, porch pirates are in full Grinch mode, working overtime to steal holiday packages waiting on your doorstep. But not if police in one California city have their way.
The Sacramento Police Department is going high-tech to stop porch pirates this holiday season with "bait packages."
While the department utilizes bait packages year round, the program goes into high gear during the holidays, when more packages are being dropped off at people's homes.
Here's how it works: Police recycle Amazon boxes and fill them with real items like power tools, iPads or luxury bags, KCRA reported. The department partners with "engaged residents" to deploy the bait packages at their homes.
Inside the bait package is a tracker that alerts the department when the package is moved. An officer is then dispatched to the package's location, hopefully to catch the thief.
"A lot of times they're in shock because they don't realize they've been tracked from the moment they took this package," Conner Jensen, with the department's South Problem Oriented Police Team told KCRA. "They could have taken 10 different turns and they have no idea."
Depending on what's inside the package, and if the suspect has any prior offenses or pending charges, they could be looking at felony or misdemeanor charges.
Since November 1, seven bait packages have been taken, KCRA reported. One person was arrested and charged with a felony and three others received misdemeanor charges; the other three porch pirates got away.