Tips to Prevent Porch Pirates from Stealing Your Holiday Packages

FRANKLIN COUNTY – The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department is offering some helpful tips on how to prevent theft of packages as the Christmas Season approaches.

Online shopping has seen a steady increase over the past few years, and is expected to increase heavily over the next two months around the holidays. It is estimated that 8 in 10 adults are regular online shoppers. Unfortunately, statistics show that nearly 4 in 10 people have fallen victim to package theft.

Here are some pro-active tips to help protect your deliveries:

(1) Get to know your delivery people to let them know your package preferences. They may be able to help by delivering to a more secure area around your home rather than high visibility areas.

(2) Track your packages for status updates; Prepare to bring your items into the home ASAP.

(3) Network with trusted neighbors – teaming up with neighbors can be a smart way to keep your deliveries and neighborhood secure.

(4) Deliver to your workplace (if allowed) or another address where someone will be available to receive it.

(5) Install security cameras or smart doorbell – most are motion detecting and will alert you to your smartphone when movement is found. Many will record and play back video, and have two way communication so you can see, hear, and respond to what’s going on.