Alberta RCMP K-Division wants residents to be wary of pirates this holiday season – and not the kind that sailed the seven seas.
RCMP is warning the public to keep an eye out for ‘porch pirates’ – people who steal packages that have been delivered to the recipient's door and left unattended.
“You would hope that people would respect that those are not their packages. However, unfortunately, there are people who don’t respect those laws, so we’re trying to stop those crimes of opportunity from happening,” said Media Relations Officer Cpl. Deanna Fontaine.
Fontaine said Alberta typically experiences an increase in mail thefts during the holiday season, when people tend to make more online purchases.
In 2018, she said, Albertans – excluding those in Calgary and Edmonton, which have their own policing services – reported 984 mail thefts to RCMP. According to Fontaine, more than a quarter of those thefts occurred during the holiday season.
“We did see last year, there was a bit of a spike between December and January, with December having 130 thefts and January over 120,” she said. “It seems like [the holidays] is a reasonable connection, which is why we’re trying to encourage the public that, from our perspective, prevention is the best way to reduce these mail thefts.”
For online shoppers, Fontaine said there are a few ways to ensure mail isn’t stolen this Christmas, such as planning to be at home when the package is delivered or arranging for a friend or neighbour to collect it. Many e-commerce services and delivery agents have an online tracking system, which allows shoppers to know exactly when their order will arrive.
For those who are expecting parcels but will be out of town when the purchase is scheduled to arrive, she said, Canada Post offers a Hold Mail Service that temporarily stops mail delivery to the address while they are away. Yet another tactic is to purchase a lockbox and provide the combination to the delivery agent ahead of time.
Fontaine added having a well-lit entryway and reporting suspicious behaviour is another proactive way to deter porch pirates.
“Even though the values vary, please report whatever items are stolen, regardless of if it’s a smaller dollar amount or not,” she said. “It might be part of a larger pattern that can help us identify someone in our investigations.”
Repercussions for stealing someone’s mail can vary, according to Fontaine, depending on the cost of the stolen items and if the perpetrator is a repeat offender or not. She added one of the biggest negative consequences is that the offence remains on a thief’s permanent criminal record.
While mail theft occurs throughout Alberta, Fontaine said the brazen buccaneers are more prevalent in areas of higher density.
“Where you see higher populations, these [thefts] will likely be more prevalent, because there are more houses, more mail and more property sitting there presenting a crime of opportunity,” she said.
Fontaine added Alberta RCMP is releasing tips on how to counter mail theft every week on its Twitter and Facebook accounts, in the form of a holiday-themed poem – parody of the song My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music.
