Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The holiday season is in full swing, and many people are likely expecting the arrival of several packages in the coming weeks with products set to be exchanged as gifts for friends and loved ones.
However, there's always the present threat of those who steal packages from people's porches. Those individuals are often referred to as "Porch Pirates".
"Unfortunately, it's something that happens more around the holidays every year," said Kat Schmeider from the Better Business Bureau (BBB)'s Upstate New York chapter. "According to a security.org study, 79% of consumers actually experienced package theft in 2022. That's something to keep in mind, as you're doing your holiday shopping."
According to the study, 17% of Americans have had a package stolen just with in the past three months, which accounts for about 44 million Americans. The typical stolen parcel was worth about $50.
In addition, 44% of people have had a package taken at some point in their life. Meanwhile, 18% of adults says they had a package stolen that contained a gift for someone else.
Just in the past year, package thieves have poached more than $8 billion in merchandise from people's porches.
"Theft is is always a problem that we seem to experience in a variety of different ways. The theft of packages off of front porches is something that we see, and it occurs in waves," said Orchard Park Chief of Police, Patrick Fitzgerald in an interview with WBEN. "I can't say that we're experiencing a rash of reports of packages being taken off of porches right now, but it's certainly something we've seen in the past and we've had to deal with."
"Porch Pirates" often take advantage of an opportunity, and may frequent a neighborhood or community multiple times before they move on to another. According to Schmeider, they'll typically target houses that provide them with a quick in-and-out route, especially if the porch or area where packages are delivered is within 25 feet of the street and is easily visible.
So what can you do this holiday season to best protect yourself from having packages stolen off your front porch? Schmeider says the No. 1 thing you can do to protect yourself is make sure you're not leaving those packages unattended.
"If possible, schedule a delivery for when you know you're going to be home," she said. "You can also ship directly to the store, where most retailers will ask for proof of purchase or identification before you receive your item. And then one other thing you can do is to require a signature. Many delivery companies will allow you the option to require a signature when a package is delivered. This is just another option to make sure the item gets directly to your hands so someone doesn't have an opportunity to steal it."
Chief Fitzgerald says Orchard Park Police works very closely with the community, and this has been a topic of conversation that's come up in the past. He also has some advice to provide this holiday season in order to prevent any packages being stolen from your porch.
"One of them is home surveillance cameras, specifically, doorbell cameras. We see that cameras that are mounted and visible to the road are oftentimes a deterrent for someone who really is partaking in what is a crime of opportunity," Fitzgerald said. "Watching a package be delivered to a front porch, or driving down the street and seeing a pile of boxes at the front door of a house. We find that houses that have cameras are oftentimes less likely to be victimized. We also know people that have anti-theft parcel boxes, which is something that people have been purchasing and mounting in areas either on the front or side of their house. It's also a great way of keeping these packages from being taken from the point of delivery to the point where you come home and take them inside of your house."
Fitzgerald also recommends to people to get to know your local delivery driver, and form a relationship where they know where is best to drop off a package for you to pick up at a later time that day.
"If you get to know your Amazon delivery person, your UPS delivery person, and they know you prefer the packages be placed around the corner behind the bush, or on the side porch instead of the front porch, oftentimes, they'll accommodate those requests," he said. "We know they get very busy, especially around this time of the year as the number of deliveries increase, but having those packages put out of sight, oftentimes, will keep them from being taken."
Another helpful resource for people to utilize when it comes to packages being delivered to houses is knowing your neighbors, and even asking their assistance when it comes to monitoring an incoming delivery.
"A neighbor can either be notified ahead of time of an expensive package or a large package that's going to be noticeable from the street, or a large delivery of packages where you know you've got a lot of things that are coming that are going to be quite noticeable. Having a neighbor be able to take those and either tuck them away, put them in their house, or possibly even that neighbor has access to your house to be able to put them inside for you is extremely helpful," Fitzgerald said. "We know having relationships with our neighbors is helpful in a variety of other ways, but this is one that we have found to be extremely successful in helping people combat the theft of the packages off their porches."
So what happens if you happen to find yourself a victim of "Porch Pirates"? Fitzgerald recommends that before you call your local police department, verify ahead of time that the package was, indeed, was delivered to your residence.
"Oftentimes, people are tracking packages using tracking numbers, and they know the package is supposed to be delivered between 8 o'clock and noon tomorrow. And at 12:30, they come home on their lunch break, there's no package, and right away, the assumption is that that package was taken. If they take a little bit of time, they can look and see that delivery was delayed, or that truck never made it out of the lot and that delay is going to deliver that package tomorrow, potentially," Fitzgerald said. "Verifying that package was delivered and is now missing is extremely helpful, rather than tying up police resources investigating something that, at the end of the day, is just a miscommunication between a shipper and the end customer."
And if, indeed, a package was delivered and is now missing, Fitzgerald encourages people to reach out and report it to police.
"In our department, they'll see a police officer. I know in other departments, due to call volume, oftentimes these types of calls are handled over the phone. But we will send an officer to the house, and the investigation begins from there," he said. "There's a variety of ways that we investigate these, working alongside the victim, along with the shipper and the supplier."
And if you may see something that's suspicious or something that causes concern in your neighborhood, don't hesitate to reach out to local law enforcement.
"If you see something, say something... That goes for every municipality," Fitzgerald said. "Utilize your local police departments to assist you, and if there's something that you see that causes you concern, please reach out to us and let us investigate. We would rather investigate a million false alarms than have somebody not feel comfortable contacting us, and having us be in a position where we could have helped solve a crime or prevent something from happening before it ever did. Please lean on us, partner with us, and help us just as much as we're out there trying to help them."