Many homes are equipped with doorbell security cameras that record package delivery thefts and other activity, but that may not be enough to identify the culprit. (Shutterstock/RightFramePhotoVideo),
With the growth of online marketplaces, many of us are getting more package deliveries, but some of what we order is stolen before it makes it into the house. That’s a problem especially at this time of year with Christmas and holiday shopping already well underway.
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The thieves, collectively called porch pirates by people with a civil tongue and worse by others fed up with this increasingly dangerous crime, stole $12 billion in packages, separating 58 million Americans from their deliveries in the last 12 months, according to one report.
Although physical confrontations are rare in these thefts from our doorsteps and lawns, they can increase vulnerability and the sense that a neighborhood isn’t safe and secure.
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Home security cameras can record the thieves in the act, and they may be prosecuted. Nine states — Michigan, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — have made porch piracy a felony. Federal statutes may apply as well.
How do you and your neighbors handle the risk of package theft? Do you arrange for delivery to an alternate address if you’re not going to be home, or just take your chances the package will be there when you get home? Have you ever had a delivery stolen and, if so, what did you do? Is it ever OK to trick or set up porch pirates with a dummy delivery box?
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Editor’s note: This survey closed on Nov. 27.
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About Block Talk
Block Talk is an exclusive Patch series on neighborhood etiquette — and readers provide the answers. If you have a topic you’d like for us to consider, email [email protected] with “Block Talk” as the subject line.
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