Police urge caution during holiday shopping season, warn against ‘porch pirates’

The holiday season is meant to be a joyous time spent with family and friends exchanging gifts, but without care, those gifts could disappear.
The U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver 900 million packages and roughly 15 billion pieces of mail from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.
That’s a lot of opportunities for what Westover Police Chief Rick Panico called “porch pirates” to ruin someone’s Christmas. A porch pirate will cruise neighborhoods, typically between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. looking for unattended packages, he said.
The thieves will generally park down the street from their target and walk up to the porch to see if there’s a reaction, and if not — steal the package, Panico said.
Items inside are often sold for cash or exchanged at a store. Cell phones can be dropped in a kiosk intended to pay people cash for their old phones, making the crime very hard to solve unless the home has surveillance cameras, Panico said.
Oftentimes, people don’t realize they’ve been the victim of package theft, and it can take several days to report to the police. People assume the package is late and call the shipper or carrier, Panico said.
Most shipping companies and USPS offer the ability to request packages be delivered only by signature or allow special instructions if someone won’t be home. Panico recommended people request packages be placed out of sight from the street such as on the back porch. Another option he suggested was requesting the package be delivered to a neighbor.
Granville Police Chief Craig Corkrean said this time of year, people should be aware of unlicensed solicitors trying to sell items in parking lots. He said his department runs them off when they are made aware of them but that people need to report them.
Panico said his town also has problems with unlicensed solicitors and suggested people ask to see their permit before buying anything. All vendors in Westover must be registered with the city, he said.
University Town Centre is “ten times more busy” during the holiday season, and Corkrean said people should use common sense to protect themselves. Don’t leave bags or packages in your car, and keep wallets and purses on your person, he said.
If you are the victim of a theft, don’t just  post on social media about it — call the police, Corkrean said.
Granville has plainclothes officers patrolling parking lots and stores at the Town Centre during the holiday season, Corkrean said. He said they’ve been effective so far and  made several arrests.
Above all, people should aim to make themselves harder targets to avoid these crimes of opportunity, Pancio said.
“Thieves are looking for easy targets,” he said.