‘Tis the season — for fleets of trucks to deliver literally tons of parcels to doorsteps, and with all those packages sitting idly on porches and stoops, some people may develop sticky fingers.
On Monday, Nov. 27 a thief stole a package at a residence in the 2500 block of Augusta in San Luis Obispo. The package was delivered and left on the front porch.
According to a San Luis Obispo Police Department news release, approximately 45 minutes later, a white female took the package and left on foot. The victim provided a photograph of the suspect captured by a surveillance camera mounted near the home’s front door.
Police issued a press release that contained tips on keeping packages safe from theft during this busy time of year.
Police listed a number of ways to combat theft, which included: have the package delivered where you are such as your place of employment, require a signature for the delivery, ask a neighbor to collect the package when it is delivered, set up an alternate delivery location (ex. — Post Office, FedEx Office, UPS Store, Amazon Locker) or use a surveillance camera system and place security stickers and yard signs in strategic areas.
Some shipping companies allow for a specified time-window of delivery, however, the service is extra and additional fees may apply. There is also a disc-shaped device that costs $89 called “Package Guard” that a delivery person will place items on when delivered to the doorstep.
The device can notify the owner of the item’s delivery and will even sound an alarm if removed without authorization, according to their website (see: www.thepackageguard.com).
Another recent incident involved a transient woman accused of stealing parcels and when arrested by the County Sheriff’s deputies found that she allegedly had several stolen items in her possession.
Sheriff’s Cmdr. Jim Voge said that there are a few high-tech ways of keeping gifts safe this holiday season, but the easiest way to prevent a crime is to keep an eye out for suspicious activities or people.
“I would think the first thing is to keep your eyes open for anybody that looks suspicious, that’s loitering,” said Cmdr. Voge.
Voge also suggested that people “take all precautions that you can, try to pick them up as soon as possible.”
Despite millions of packages being lost through “porch piracy” throughout the U.S. as some reports suggest, Voge says that there are not many incidents in the SLO County’s Coastal cities.
“It seems that we don’t get that many situations, it seems we get maybe one or two a month in the coast station area,” Cmdr. Voge said. “We seem to get a lot more in mail thefts than packages thefts.”
Mail theft is when someone steals envelopes out of mailboxes, generally looking for checks.
Cmdr. Voge stressed that the Sheriff’s Department is here to help and that they recommend that if people see something that doesn’t look or feel quite right, then they should notify the department.
It’s an advantage he says that our relatively small community has compared to a place like Los Angeles, where if someone is not committing a crime, big city law enforcement generally does not have the manpower to investigate every call.
“We don’t mind getting calls,” Cmdr. Voge said. “We get a lot of calls for suspicious people, which is nice that we can afford to send deputies in this area.”
Incidentally, he said, since the installation of additional surveillance cameras and a warning sign being posted at the Bob Jones Trail parking lot in Avila Beach, the number of cars being broken into has dropped dramatically to “nearly nothing,” he said.
If you see someone or something suspicious call the Sherriff’s Department at 781-4550 for non-emergencies and 9-1-1 for emergencies, or call your local police department.
– By Mark A. Diaz
