La Grange Park Police Send Email Promoting Products

LA GRANGE PARK, IL — The La Grange Park Police Department says it wanted to do something about porch pirates stealing packages from front doors. So on Friday, it sent out an advertisement for different types of bags meant to deter thieves. The email made it appear as if the village was endorsing particular products sold by private companies.

The police department copied and pasted the advertisement and emailed it to hundreds of people under the heading "public safety bulletin." Some of the products were advertised with inflated customer review ratings. After Patch asked whether the village was endorsing the products and the companies that make them, the department sent out a follow-up email.

"It was the intent of the Police Department to provide the community with ideas on ways to prevent (a person from) becoming a victim of a package theft," the email said. "It has never been and will never be the Police Department's intent to promote or endorse a specific item or product."

The department said it would continue to make residents aware of ways to protect themselves.

"Regarding the safety brief that was sent out earlier, we caution the community to be vigilant and check the validity of any product that they are looking to purchase," the police said.

The advertisement came from PreventPackageTheft.com. Patch contacted the website's editor, Sterling Morris, who is also referred to as the company's CEO on other websites. He said his website reviews products meant to protect people from porch piracy. And he said his company gets 4 percent of the proceeds if his website's visitors proceed to buy one of the reviewed products on Amazon.

According to PreventPackageTheft.com, it is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for the website to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.

Morris, whose day job is in communications for a hospital chain in the West, portrayed his firm as an independent reviewer, though the reviews in question were almost entirely upbeat about the bags.

The porch pirate bags are meant to be secured to a home and prevent thieves from stealing packages. Of the three products in the advertisement sent by the police, two had inflated Amazon average customer review ratings.

According to the ad, one of the bags had received 4.5 out of 5 stars. But the number was actually 2.9 on the Amazon website, based on three customer reviews, a small sample size.

For another item, Morris' site had the average rating at 4.5, but it was actually 3.4, based on 10 reviews.

Morris said the reviews are updated yearly, so the numbers may be out of date. After the Patch interview, he sent an email saying the call was a good reminder to do an update. He corrected the numbers.

In an interview, Police Chief Tim Contois said the second email from the department served as a correction. He said the department's email list includes about 600 people.