5 Ways To Stop Porch Pirates In Sarasota

SARASOTA, FL — Online shopping has reached an all-time high due to the coronavirus pandemic as package thieves gear up for the holiday season in Sarasota and across the country.

The Sarasota Police Department offered several tips to help prevent package thefts this season:

• If possible, have someone home when you’re expecting a delivery or ask someone you trust to come and pick up a package that was delivered. If not, keep a close eye on tracking information and pick it up as soon as possible.
• Have deliveries sent to your place of business, if allowed, or have it delivered to a trusted person’s home or have it delivered to a secure pick up box or post office so you can pick it up on your schedule.
• Choose the ship-to-store option so you can pick up your items at the store on your schedule.
• Choose the “sign for delivery” option. That way, whoever delivers your items has to make sure a person signs for it.
• Keep your front area or porch and/or garage area well lit. With it getting darker, earlier, it may get dark before you get home. Lights will also allow your neighbors to see who is near your home.
• Be a good neighbor and watch out for one another. If you see something suspicious, say something. If something doesn’t seem right, call local law enforcement immediately. In the city of Sarasota, the Sarasota Police Department can be reached at 911 for emergencies or non emergency at 941-316-1199.

More than 5.5 million Americans have been victimized by package thefts over the past year, according to Finder, a personal finance comparison website, in a study released in November.

About $5.4 billion worth of items were stolen in package thefts from November 2019 to November 2020, the Finder determined.

Because of the busy online shopping month of December, that number is likely to grow by the end of the year.

Fewer people were in the nation’s malls on Black Friday, and Cyber Monday is expected to become the busiest online shopping day of all time when all sales are totaled, according to The Associated Press.

Overall holiday season sales in 2020 are expected to rise 0.9 percent, with a 36 percent jump in online sales, a study by the research company eMarketer shows.

Porch pirates could see a prime opportunity to take advantage of the expected spike in packages left at front doors.

They usually get away with it, too. Only 11 percent of victims said the culprits were caught, according to a 2019 study by C+R Research.

Who Steals A Package?

Men are found to be more likely to be both package thieves and victims of the crime, according to the Finder study. With 5.29 percent of men admitting having stolen a package compared with 0.85 percent of women, men are more than 500 percent more likely to be package thieves than women, the study found.

Seventeen percent of men say a package of theirs was stolen during the past year, compared with 11 percent for women.

Still, 86 percent of the nearly 2,000 participants in the study said they have not experienced a package theft since this time last year.

Additional Prevention Tips

Here are five tips Finder shared to help Americans keep from becoming a victim of a package theft:

• Try curbside pickup: Drive to the store; most of them offer curbside pickup options.
• Use a post office box: This will ensure the package is handled by a professional at the Sarasota post office.
• Video surveillance: Doorbell cameras such as Ring can allow homeowners to scare away the thief in real time.
• Require a signature: This way, the package cannot go unattended.
• Have it sent to your workplace: Public places typically have a greater chance of using security cameras.