Sunshine Coast thieves target remote mailboxes
Thieves on the Sunshine Coast are targeting outdated community mailboxes in remote locations, likely in search of valuables, cash, and cheques.
Since Dec. 2, the local RCMP detachment has opened 28 files associated with mailbox break-ins, Const. Karen Whitby said.
At least one cheque has been altered and cashed after being stolen from a local mailbox, she said.
In the latest incident, on Dec. 10, someone gained access to Canada Post community mailboxes on a quiet stretch of Redrooffs Road in Halfmoon Bay. The perpetrators come equipped with tools for the job. “It appears that they are accessing the boxes by either brute strength using pry bars or drilling out the locks,” Whitby said.
Just days earlier, thieves hit boxes in Madeira Park, Garden Bay and Ruby Lake.
The pace of thefts may be ramping up during the holiday season, with three separate incidents over just eight days, but mailbox breakins are hardly new to the Sunshine Coast.
In February, someone emptied a community mailbox in Roberts Creek after prying open the doors. Several large dumps of opened and unopened mail were discovered in July in West Sechelt, Roberts Creek, Halfmoon Bay and Gibsons, apparently discarded after break-ins.
The recent thefts all follow a consistent pattern.
“All of them have happened overnight when it is dark, and the large majority of these community boxes are in rural areas with very limited oversight from neighbours or traffic,” Whitby said.
Thieves appear to be targeting older, less-secure mailboxes. Canada Post introduced a new high-security mailbox design about six years ago, but in rural parts of the Sunshine Coast many are an outdated design.
Frustrated resident John McDougall- Goulet said that Canada Post appears to operate by “putting out fires rather than proactively changing boxes. ... They seem to only change boxes after they've been broken into.”
Others confirmed that their boxes had also been broken.
Canada Post does not “divulge specific security measures or broader information related to our equipment publicly, as doing so would significantly hamper their effectiveness,” the Crown corporation said.
Several cases have been reported dating back years, even after “anti-pry devices” were installed on boxes in 2011 by Canada Post in higher-crime areas.
“We take the security of the mail very seriously and we work closely with police in such cases,” a spokesperson said, while not saying whether theft from rural mailboxes is on the rise or how many thefts have been reported.
Canada Post's advice “to protect your identity” suggests that thieves may also use information from bills and other documents for identity theft.
Collect your mail daily, and if you plan to be away, suspend your delivery with the post office's hold mail service, the Crown corporation said.