Holiday home security: Police give tips to not become package theft prey

It’s the weekend before Christmas and all through the streets are packages and presents waiting for thieves. “During the year package theft isn’t a big ticket item, but during the holidays people know that everybody is going to get packages to their home,” says Det. Amanda Jenson with Bellevue Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit. She adds that if we are home, we should let the delivery person know. “They don’t always ring your doorbell to deliver your package so even if you’re home, you may not know that your package is sitting on your front door,” Jensen explains. Leave a note asking them to knock or ring the door bell and if you’re not home, Detective Jensen says, “Options like having it delivered to a neighbor’s house that will be home or even your local stores like a UPS store that’s local, have it dropped there and you can just go pick it up instead.”

Most delivery services offer tracking for packages and even tailoring for your delivery time. But some companies offer even more options. “Amazon has Amazon lockers, so if you order from Amazon you can have them delivered to a locked location at a business or public place,” Jensen says. These lockers open with a code making it easy to retrieve your items. Just one more option to keep the scrooges away from Christmas. “There are some people who will drive through neighborhoods looking to see if you can see a package on the front door. There’s also those that follow the trucks around,” Jensen adds. “The best way to protect your packages from thieves is to not leave them out there with the opportunity for them to be stolen.” Det. Jensen says if you have packages stolen, file a report immediately and then contact your credit card company to find out if it offers purchase protection services that can reimburse you for your stolen stuff.