OTTAWA -- Police are warning shoppers to be careful of “porch pirates” this holiday season.
“Porch pirates” are thieves that steal delivered packages left by front doors.
Police are seeing incidents become more common with the rise of online shopping. Constable Sebastien Lemay with Ottawa Police says, “It is a risk with the ongoing development of people ordering stuff online so we just want people to be very careful.”
This comes as a Glebe resident posted a video of a thief stealing packages in broad daylight. The homeowner says he called police and filed a report.
Lemay says shoppers should be extra careful this holiday season with Black Friday and Cyber Monday only days away.
Police say it is considered a crime of personal property, no matter how much the package is worth.
Your best defense, police say, is arranging a delivery time when you are home or having a neighbour you trust pick it up.
Companies like Purolator make sure customers have options. “We have evening deliveries, we have weekend deliveries, customers can also track package with trace system.”
Amazon says if someone is not home, the delivery driver will leave the package at the front door, visible in a secure location.
Lemay says it is important to report if a package is stolen. “We need to know where these incidents are happening. Some of these incidents would be hard to investigate but there may be a witness or video footage or leads we can follow.”
