The surge in online shopping from modern people has somehow led criminals to steal the holiday packages of New Jersey city residents. Thankfully, the police are creating plans to catch these perpetrators.
From New York to the Hudson River, the Jersey city cops in partnership with Amazon, use dummy holiday boxes that have GPS tracking devices and install cameras on doorbells. All they have to do is wait for someone to take the bait. They did not wait for long.
On December 11, they caught a suspect.
While overseeing the operation, Captain James Crecco said they put a box on the street, and it was taken after only three minutes. At first, they thought they were mistaken.
InsuranceQuotes.com commissioned a company to extrapolate figures on porch theft activities. The survey revealed that more than 26 million residents in America had been victims of holiday package thieves. This issue affects approximately 1 in 12 people.
However, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS did not give the exact figures regarding the number of packages that have been reported missing or stolen. Amazon is assisting the Jersey City program by providing free equipment.
Glenn Zaccara, the UPS spokesman, encourages their customers to report porch thefts to local law enforcement.
In an interview by The Associated Press, Police Chief Michael Kelly of Jersey City said that Amazon helped them map theft locations. Then they use the city crime statistics to select the locations for boxes and cameras.
Kelly said that they have arrested a lot of perpetrators regarding package thefts with the use of private surveillance cameras or closed-circuit television. These devices can provide law enforcement with still images of the culprits.
For the bait dummy boxes, they used GPS and video surveillance.
Anyone can be a victim of a package theft. In fact, both Mayor Steven Fulop and Captain Crecco’s mother have been victims of this kind of theft.
Some law enforcement authorities volunteered to put bait packages and cameras in their city homes.
Together with the largest online retailer in the country, Amazon, the anti-theft program has the approval of a municipal prosecutor after undergoing a legal review.
While Amazon did not answer any questions regarding the program, they stated that they are committed to always helping a program to address the package theft.
California, Hayward, New Mexico, Albuquerque, along with some other cities also use similar anti-theft programs.
According to Adobe Analytics, online sales in America are expected to rise from 14.8 percent from last year to $124.1 billion, for the months of November and December. This just proves that e-commerce sales are a fast-growing industry, but its convenience can also be host to new legal issues.
UPS estimates to deliver more than 800 million packages during the Thanksgiving and holiday season, while the Postal Service estimates they handle up to 900 million parcels.
These staggering figures mean numerous package deliveries to apartments and houses. People are not always at home when a package is delivered. At times, they are not aware of the delivery. Since there may be a time gap between the delivery and the t customer receiving it, thieves view this as a window of opportunity and steal packages.
The strongest protection against package theft may be the Key service by the Amazon. This involves installing a camera and using cloud-connected lock on their front door. It enables the delivery person of the Amazon to unlock the homeowner’s door and place the package safely inside the residence.
Despite attempts to stop porch theft, many people raised objections concerning security and privacy. But Amazon still bets lots of people will find the program convenient and effective.
For extended absences of the customers, the post office advises applying for a hold-mail request. FedEx and UPS allow their customers to change drop-off address or reschedule deliveries.
