Police warn residents about ‘porch pirates’ during holiday season
By Jenna Wilson
As the holiday season brings an influx of deliveries, the St. Joseph Police Department is cautioning residents about the rise in package thefts.
The issue, while present year-round, sees a significant increase during the holidays due to the surge in online orders.
“There are people out there trying to take advantage of the fact that it’s a holiday season and everybody’s doing their shopping online,” said SJPD Crime Prevention Officer Jeremy Peters.
It’s the reason some area residents prefer a different route when it comes to getting holiday shopping done.
“I always do my shopping in person,” said St. Joseph resident, Sherry Smith. “Fortunately, stolen packages isn’t a concern in the area I live in but I know it does happen to people. I don’t think I’ve fallen victim because I prefer to do holiday shopping at the stores.
More than 120 million packages were stolen across the U.S. in 2023, according to an analysis by SafeWise.
SJPD explained the many different methods criminals use to steal packages, including watching for homes with packages that pile up or following delivery trucks.
“There are instances where we’ve seen some of the suspects follow delivery trucks around and as soon as they drive off, they’ll run up and try to grab the package right away,” Officer Peters said. “If you see something like that, please call us so that we can try to intervene and intercept those.”
To keep your packages safe this holiday season, SJPD recommends installing a doorbell camera to monitor deliveries and catch any pirates in the act, or reaching out to a trusted neighbor to retrieve your package if you will not be home.
Other tips SJPD shared to prevent theft is that area residents track their packages, reroute their deliveries to secure locations, require a signature upon delivery, have packages sent to their workplace or another safe drop-off location.
For thieves, the consequences of stealing packages from homes vary, depending on the value of the item inside and your criminal history, porch pirates could be subject to anything from a fine to jail time.
