Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub is offering tips to help residents avoid greedy porch pirates this holiday season.
The county’s top lawman issued the tips and produced a video recently to assist residents.
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Below are Weintraub’s tips to help residents avoid porch pirates:
• Use package tracking or sign up for delivery updates: Once your package is shipped and you get a tracking number, you can plan to be home when it gets there or arrange to have a neighbor or friend hold onto your delivery for you.
• Require a signature on delivery or schedule your deliveries for a time when you expect to be home.
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• Provide delivery instructions: If you have a more secure location at your home, let the delivery service know.
• Have your packages delivered to a secure locker that are provided by services like Amazon or UPS.
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• Have packages delivered to the store where you made the online purchase and pick it up at your own convenience.
• Install a video doorbell or camera security system: A camera can serve as a deterrent to potential package thieves. Even if they do not stop them, the footage captured can help police track them down.
• Make it clear you have a home security system: Thieves will think twice about taking your packages if they see you have some kind of security system.
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Thefts of newly-delivered packages from Levittown-area porches have been reported this holiday season.
Security.org issued a report recently that found 49 million Americans have had a package stolen in the past year.
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The value of the stolen packages in Pennsylvania averaged $43. The report called porch piracy “a crime of opportunity that rarely ends in arrest.”
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