Tis the season to be jolly, but not so much when the gift or other item you ordered online was delivered to you, and then stolen right from your door, often mere moments after delivery.
The practice has led to a brand new term, ‘porch pirates’.
Throughout North America, thousands of parcels have been stolen right off people’s doorsteps almost always in broad daylight. In some cases, the lure of a package sitting unattended seems to be too much for otherwise honest persons while in other cases, thieves have been seen to follow delivery trucks and steal the several packages as soon as they’re dropped off.
Earlier this year a security camera captured two women carting off several boxes at an address in Saskatoon. The boxes contained not gifts, but thousands of dollars of critical medical supplies for a child. The women were later caught. (CBC News-The National)
While most try to steal quickly and in many cases take off with an accomplice in a waiting car, some of the petty criminals are unbelievably brazen, taking their time with the thefts with seemingly little fear of being caught.
One report from the U.S. said that of 2,000 Americans who bought something online at least once last year, well over a third (36%) were victims of porch theft.
Along with the increase in thefts has come an increase in homeowners buying home security cameras as trust in one’s fellow citizens and society generally, continues to decline. However the cameras have seemingly little effect at deterring the thefts. One can see dozens of videos on YouTube of porch pirates in action, and also of homemade deterrents.
A frightened porch thief, surprised by an exploding booby trap package and hampered by his pants hanging low, makes a misstep and falls before scurrying off to his accomplice in a waiting car (Blank Box-Youtube)
Police in some areas have begun placing phantom packages to catch thieves, some with gps trackers inside. Other individuals have been creating their own booby-trap packages that contain a variety of small explosive charges like blank shotgun shells, and/or which spray thieves with paint, sticky liquid or foul smelling substances. Still with the vast number of packages delivered and stolen, the potential deterrent factor seems minimal.
There are options according to Canada Post. One can specify that packages be dropped off at your place of work or other address, or the closest post office where you can pick it up. Some communities have created a secure drop off location, while it seems a new business opportunity has sprung up of secure door step package lock boxes.
CBC News report
Additional information-sources
- CBC: Dec 12/19: Crime Stoppers offering reward to stop porch pirates
- Blog TO: M.Miller: Dec 17/19: Woman and child steal package off Toronto porch and it was all caught on video
- Global News: J.Wong: Dec 17/19: Parcel swiped from Edmonton woman’s front porch – and it’s captured on camera
- Business Insider: H. Peterson: Apr 11/19: Amazon helped police plant fake packages to try to trap thieves
- BBC: Dec 17/19: Glitter stink bomb 2.0 to deter ‘porch pirates’
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.