The pandemic has forced more residents this holiday season to buy products online from the safety of their homes.
And with shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the upcoming days, packages will soon be arriving by the masses to local doorsteps.
Thieves who steal packages from porches before the homeowner can pick them up are well aware of the increase in deliveries, Metro Police Capt. Nick Farese said.
These so-called “porch pirates” will soon be stalking neighborhoods for items, Farese warned.
“Don’t make it easy for criminals,” Farese said.
Farese and Metro hosted a news conference Tuesday to raise awareness to the problem. A stack of brown boxes, which sat outside the Las Vegas home where Farese spoke, could quickly catch the attention of thieves, who could race through the yard, snatch the packages and make off with someone’s holiday gifts.
It’s that easy.
But so is preventing this and other holiday-related thefts, Farese stressed.
He recommended having packages delivered at work, during a time when someone’s home or when someone can pick them up immediately after delivery.
Amazon offers delivery lockers where items can be picked up at the recipient’s convenience, and most big box stores offer safe curbside pickup.
Additionally, people who’ve unpacked their TVs, computers, gaming systems or other electronics need to be smart with the packaging.
“You don’t want to advertise your trash to bad people,” said Farese, noting that packaging of valuables can attract burglars. Big boxes should be broken down and put in trash bags before they’re placed in trash cans, he recommended.
If you were to catch someone in the act, Farese said to never confront them.
“Be a very good witness and get identifiable information,” Farese said. “While you might think that they’re just coming up to steal a few packages, you never know what else might be going on — they might be armed, and we wouldn’t want you to risk your life or the life of somebody else over a package.”
Burglaries in Metro’s jurisdiction are down about 32%, thefts have dipped about 15% and car thefts have dropped 4.41%, according to year-to-date stats ending Saturday.
Metro again rolled out its “holiday initiative” that dispatches uniformed and undercover officers to shopping centers across the valley in an attempt to break up crime sprees.
It has already paid dividends, Farese said. On the first day out last weekend, officers dismantled a group that schemed to steal from big box stores and shoppers.
“Just because you do not see a police officer in uniform does not mean that we don’t have a police officer present,” Farese said.
For “traditionalists” who will still be going to stores, Farese reminded residents to not leave valuables inside vehicles, and if they do, they should do their best to hide them.
Police recommend shoppers be aware of their surroundings when walking through parking lots.
“Never use a vehicle to store a gun,” Farese said, noting that they could easily be stolen. “You don’t want to be responsible for having a crime on a gun that you did not secure properly.”
Preventing these crimes might come down to collaboration between police and the community.
“We cannot be successful without you,” Farese said.