Don’t let a Grinch steal your Christmas this year, tips to dissuade porch pirates
Ontario Provincial Police are offering tips for residents to ensure you don’t fall victim to a holiday Grinch this season.
While online shopping can be helpful for finding the perfect gift, it also makes it easy for that gift to fall into the wrong hands — porch pirates.
“Certainly it's a problem all year round,” said OPP spokesperson Derek Rogers. “But particularly this time of year, I think most of us partake in some online shopping because it's so easy.”
“Unfortunately, we know that that also makes it easy for thieves. You can just swipe something right off your doorstep.”
To ensure thieves aren’t nabbing any packages from your doorway this festive season, OPP has the following tips:
- Request a signature on delivery.
- Ship the package to a trusted neighbour or relative who will be home.
- Arranged to have packages delivered to your workplace - if your employer allows it.
- Track your delivery online so you know when they're slated to arrive and plan to be home when the package is delivered.
- Install video cameras and post signage to indicate surveillance is in effect.
- Request the package be left out of sight at a rear or side door.
- Choose in-store or curbside pickup.
“It's one of the big things that when we put it out on social media, everybody hates the porch pirate or the package thief. It's right up there with the person that doesn't brush off their car. This is one of the top ones that really irritates people, for understandable reasons,” Rogers said.
He cautioned online shoppers against taking matters into their own hands and avoid baiting potential porch pirates, suggesting the best thing to do is call police should your package be stolen.
“You have to be very careful when you do this kind of vigilante thing because if somebody becomes hurt you certainly you might be subject to charges. Nobody would want that,” Rogers said. “Any information that the police have in terms of what's happening in that neighborhood from a theft perspective is important intelligence. It's important information. The police can adjust their operations to concentrate in a certain area where there is a problem. So don't dismiss and think well what are you going to do? Certainly contact police and let us know.”
OPP remind residents if packages are stolen from your home, to report the incident to local police and the company that delivered your purchase. Police say reporting the crime gives police valuable information about potential theft trends in your area and can dedicate resources to problem areas.
“If you get caught and we do catch people who are package thieves, that's a criminal offense,” Rogers said. “Theft is a criminal offense. And do you really want a criminal record something that's worth 20 bucks?”
To contact your local OPP detachment, call 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
- With files from CTV Windsor's Chris Campbell
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6946944.1719771804!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Neighbour on the hook for $3,675 in damages due to ‘nuisance cedar’: B.C. tribunal
A B.C. man who reneged on a deal to split the cost of removing a tree with his next-door neighbour is now on the hook for the whole amount, B.C.’s civil resolution has ruled.
More WestJet flight cancellations as strike hits tens of thousands of travellers
WesJet flight cancellations grew to over 800 Sunday afternoon, upending plans for close to 100,000 passengers as an unexpected strike by plane mechanics entered its third day on the busiest travel weekend of the season.
A study identified 6 types of depression. Here’s why that matters
Scientists may be a step closer to that reality, thanks to new research that has identified six subtypes — or 'biotypes' — of major depression via brain imaging combined with machine learning.
Several U.S. military bases in Europe on heightened alert amid possible terrorist threat
Several U.S. military bases across Europe were put on a heightened state of alert over the weekend, with the level of force protection raised to its second-highest state amid concerns that a terrorist attack could target U.S. military personnel or facilities, according to two U.S. officials.
She's still busy at 105. What secrets and science are behind Canada's 'super agers'?
There is ongoing research to better understand the relationship between social connection and healthy aging, and why the brains of super agers look different compared with their peers.
Nude beach etiquette: Lose your clothes, not your manners
Most of us have felt the freedom and delight that comes with stripping down to a swimsuit on a sunny day and wading into a cool sea, the horizon twinkling in the distance.
Creators urge Ottawa to force disclosure of ‘black box’ AI system training
Canadian creators and publishers want the government to do something about the unauthorized and usually unreported use of their content to train generative artificial intelligence systems.
French voters propel far-right National Rally to strong lead in first-round legislative elections
France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron after his risky decision to call voters back to the polls for the second time in three weeks.
Some of Canada's wealthiest billionaires, according to Forbes
If you gathered all the wealth that billionaires currently have worldwide, you would have about US$14.2 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine. But what about in Canada alone?