You spent a lot of time on-line searching for the perfect holiday gift for a special person in your life. You placed your order on the web site. Your credit card was charged the right amount.
The designated delivery service – Fedex, UPS, the Postal Service, or another outfit – says it duly left the item on your doorstep.
You did your job. They did theirs. So where’s the box containing that not-cheap chunk of cheer?
A package thief probably swiped it — faster than you can say Ebenezer Scrooge.
In neighborhoods all over town, sticky-fingered crooks think this kind of theft is easy pickings: no burglary, shoplifting, night-stalking or violence required!
But you can help us foil these gift-grabbing, box-boosting criminals.
- If no one will be home to retrieve a package as soon as it is delivered, arrange ahead of time for deliverers to leave your package with a neighbor who will be home.
- Or make your workplace the delivery destination.
- Or arrange for a signature to be required for delivery.
- Keep exterior doorways well lit at night.
- And/or install motion detectors so that lights come on when someone approaches the doorstep.
- And/or install tamper-proof security cameras at your entryway and post stickers or signs telling any visitors they are “live on video.”
- If a delivered package goes missing from the your doorstep, please call 911 and make a report to law enforcement. It may help recover the goods and/or catch the thieves.