Beware of ‘porch pirates’ during holiday shopping season

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — The holiday shopping season is in full swing, which means porch pirates will be as well. More packages will be showing up on doorsteps after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, creating an opportunity for thieves.

Sgt. Anthony Gibson with the Charleston Police Dept. said when it comes to protecting your purchases, prevention is key. He recommended providing instructions to delivery drivers to place your package behind a bush or somewhere out of sight, or even having the item delivered to a secure location.

“You have to organize your drop-off and be very deliberate about it,” he said. “So utilize a secure pick-up location. I understand that it’s much easier to just go to your porch and pick up an item, but if someone takes that item it’s no longer as convenient as it could have been.”

According to research by Security.org, package thieves stole more than $8 billion in merchandise over the last year. Gibson said because porch pirates typically target a series of homes, not just one porch, security cameras placed around your property can be helpful.

“Remember there has to be a way for the porch pirates to actually get around, so consider ways to capture any vehicles that may be in the area,” he explained. “Being able to piece together multiple incidents is actually really helpful for our officers to be able to continue that investigation.”

If you do have a package stolen, report it to authorities. The penalties for porch pirates range from petit theft to more serious property crime enhancements, which can result in jail time.

“Theft very rarely happens once, and it tends to be something that is repetitive because the mindset is ‘I got away with it once, what is the likelihood that I could get away with it again’ — so that is where property crime enhancement comes in with convictions to hopefully deter repetitive theft from individuals,” Sgt. Gibson said.

Retail theft is also a concern for Charleston Police, however, Gibson said it is one of the most common crimes they encounter and not just limited to the holiday season.