Package pickup

Thieves find porches to be great targets for crime

Every day, an army deploys in Northwest Arkansas.

They come in brown trucks with gold lettering. They come in white trucks with purple and orange lettering. At least so far in Northwest Arkansas, they haven’t gone airborne, but in due time they will. They’re like that bunny on Easter, spreading little (and some not so little) packages across the region.

The massive growth in online ordering has turned package delivery from an occasional extravagance to a standard method of receiving everything from groceries to merchandise. Shopping lists can be made as simply as saying “Alexa, order me a new bottle of fabric softener” or “Hey, Google, add my favorite laundry detergent to my order.” Then they just show up, usually dropped at a home’s front step or porch.

Wherever consumer practices go, law-breakers are sure to follow in pursuit of illicit gains.

These home deliveries have given rise to a smaller army: rogue thieves ready to strike when packages sit unattended. It’s become so prevalent, law enforcement officers refer to them as “porch pirates.”

A 2017 survey of 1,000 people by Shorr Packaging Co., an Illinois-based distributor of packaging products, equipment and services, found that almost a third of people who had packages delivered had experienced package theft. It’s a big problem during the end-ofyear holidays, such as Christmas, but package thefts happen all year long.

In Fort Smith last week, a federal magistrate ordered a man held by the U.S. Marshals Service after his arrested on charges related to stealing packages from the front porch of a home on South O Street in Fort Smith. The home’s occupant reported to authorities that several packages from Amazon, delivered and left sitting on her porch, had been stolen. She provided a video much like the ones that are abundant on YouTube: A gray car pulls into the driveway, a man gets out and simply walks away with the packages.

The thieves are brazen, taking full advantage of a business model that leaves deliveries susceptible to thievery. Some homeowners have even taken to setting booby-traps and law enforcement agencies have developed bait packages designed to nab the law-breakers.

Police in Centerton had several package thefts in one neighborhood last year that went unsolved. So this year, they used packages rigged with GPS locator devices. They worked with homeowners to set up video cameras and had their packages shipped through the U.S. Postal Service, Fed Ex and UPS to the homes.

They also promoted their “sting” operation, with hopes of deterring thefts. None of the trackable packages were stolen, according to Centerton authorities.

These delivery systems seem to assume a certain volume of thefts and the businesses involved have no doubt calculated the cost-benefits of the drop-and-run model to tilt in their favor.

But having something stolen from one’s own porch leaves a feeling of being violated and local law enforcement naturally has other things to do than to serve as package police.

Rogers Police Department spokesman Sgt. Keith Foster recently told a reporter that online shoppers should work to outwit potential thieves by enabling instant notifications of deliveries and having a plan to get packages off their front porches quickly.

“The key is trying to reduce the amount of time the package is visible from the street and reduce the opportunity for someone to take your property,” Foster said.

It’s clear local and federal authorities are hearing from unhappy shoppers. Duane Keys, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, recently said his agency will work with local law enforcement to build federal cases against package thieves. He cited statistics showing about 26 million packages were stolen in 2017, with an estimated economic impact of more than $2.2 billion.

We applaud law enforcement getting involved to make people pay for their greed and dishonesty, but it’s also fair to question the basic business model of deliveries from online sales.

Should companies that drop-and-run as a way of doing business really expect law enforcement to solve a fundamental problem with their delivery systems or practices? No, let’s hold them accountable rather than letting them shift problems onto taxpayers and public agencies.

Likewise, homeowners share part of the burden of protecting themselves, just as with other kinds of criminal activity. Nobody stores their jewelry out on their front lawn, for obvious reasons. Why do we expect a package with an iPad inside to sit safely on a front porch for hours?

Delivery companies suggest packages should be delivered to a place of employment where someone can receive them. People who expect deliveries often can install surveillance cameras of good enough quality to make thieves identifiable to police. Residents who plan to have frequent deliveries should develop an area where packages can be easily hidden from view and communicate that to the delivery company.

It’s more of a hassle, but requiring a signature prevents delivery unless someone is home, but some sellers don’t make such options easily available.

Technology, such as devices that let an homeowner momentarily open a garage or door for deliveries, are great, but not everyone can afford converting their homes into Fort Knox.

Plus, how much money does one have to save through online deals to make the costly investment in anti-theft technology worth it? Sometimes, it’s less hassle and less money just to run down to the local store and buy what you need, plus there’s value in supporting local jobs and businesses.

Companies, whether it’s Walmart, Amazon or other retailers, as well as delivery companies need to continue developing practices that protect consumers as online shopping and home deliveries continue to grow in popularity. And we like the occasional GPS-enabled sting operation by law enforcement. Such arrests and prosecutions should be well publicized so that potential thieves will at least have to pause to determine whether the impulse to steal is worth it.

Today, the Grinch doesn’t even have to get into the home to steal Christmas. He can just grab it from the porch. Ultimately, home-delivery shopping demands trust in the seller and in the company delivering what we’ve ordered. Porch pirates erode that trust. Companies need to continue investing in anti-theft practices to make sure that trust remains intact.