New Westminster BC Police Baiting ‘Porch Pirates’ With Packages

An Amazon delivery worker pulls a delivery cart full of packages in New York City on June 21, 2021. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The New Westminster police department in B.C. has a new plan to catch porch pirates stealing Christmas presents and packages from people’s front doors, and plans to continue the program year round, even after the holidays.

On Dec. 13, the police said that beginning in December, the Street Crime Unit, Crime Reduction Unit, and front line patrol officers would be putting “bait packages” on doorsteps and in mailboxes across the city.

With the cooperation of homeowners, police put these parcels at prearranged mailboxes or residences. “The packages contain technology that will help police identify and track down anyone who attempts to steal the package,” said the police.

Finder, a global comparison website, surveyed 1,182 Canadians in November 2020 and found that 23 percent have had a run-in with a “porch pirate.” According to Finder, “This means an astounding 6.9 million Canadians have been victimized by a porch pirate! While nearly 1 in 10 Canadians have had a package worth more than $250 taken, the average value of stolen packages is $113. That’s approximately $784 million worth of products that have been ‘pirated’ from porches across Canada.”

Sergeant Justine Thom, spokesperson for New Westminster police, said, “Families in New Westminster don’t need their holidays ruined by having packages stolen.”

She said police are hoping the bait packages will make thieves think twice before grabbing something off a porch, especially during the busy holiday season.

The bait packages are designed to deter parcel theft, but police also recommend making it harder to steal delivery packages. They suggest asking neighbors to look out for deliveries, or having them delivered where they can be stored safely.

“We’re asking people to have items delivered to locations where someone will be available to receive them, such as an office rather than home,” said Thom. “We also encourage people to check their mailboxes regularly and consider shipping insurance for costly items.”

Packages at the New Westminster Police Department in B.C. Courtesy of New Westminster Police

Thom told The Epoch Times that this is a crime of opportunity.

“Package theft is a crime we see year round and it was decided that this holiday season we’d try the bait package program. We’ve seen similar programs work well in other cities and we wanted to test the program to see if it would work in New Westminster. Parma, Ohio; Sacramento, California; and Prince George here in British Columbia have done similar bait package initiatives,” she added.

In the United States, a number of jurisdictions have taken similar steps to set a trap for “porch pirates.”

In Anaheim, California, for example, police have been leaving packages with tracking devices in front of houses. The homeowners agree to have their house used in the sting, and are a prior victim of either mail theft or package theft.

In Anaheim, plainclothes officers deliver boxes with GPS trackers, driving a plain, unmarked black van. The packages are not empty; they can contain iPhones or other popular gifts. In California, the bait package is set up to contain more than $1,000 worth of goods, making the theft a felony.

When the package moves, police dispatch is notified and officers are told what speed and direction the package is going.

Bait boxes are similarly used in Pensacola, Florida, and parts of Utah where they come in different sizes and look like regular packages.

Even Amazon has gotten in on the sting, calling it “Operation Safe Porch.” The online retailer is supplying police with an item of higher value so it qualifies as a felony theft if stolen. The package is placed on a porch or in a mailbox with the homeowner’s permission.

Police have caught porch thieves from New Jersey to California using these bait boxes.