If you receive deliveries to your front door, you may be unaware of the prevalence of a growing phenomenon called porch piracy. What is a porch pirate and how does it affect me? You may be surprised to know about frequently it occurs and who does it.
A porch pirate is someone who steals packages that have been left unattended usually at a residence. With the increase in online shopping and home delivery, package theft has increased dramatically even with people at home when the theft takes place and with doorbell cameras and other security features present.
Even if you happen to be home at the time and don’t answer the door, you may be at risk for package theft as thieves often do it even if people are inside the residence.
What Is A Porch Pirate?
A porch pirate is someone who steals recently delivered packages or other goods that have been left at a residence typically at the front door presumably because no one answered when it was delivered. The term porch pirate
came into prominence around 2010 but with the increase in online shopping and home delivery since then, the crime has become more common.
While some porch pirates may drive or walk around specifically looking for items to steal off a porch, it’s also a crime of opportunity: Someone notices a box sitting outside a front door, sees that no one appears to be looking and runs up to the house and steals it.
Who Are Porch Pirates?
Some package thefts are committed by individuals who had no prior plans to steal anything but saw the opportunity and took it. Other porch pirates are repeat offenders who do it regularly and will drive around neighborhoods looking for something to steal.
Amazingly, there have also been stories about couriers and delivery drivers stealing packages that they delivered themselves. Doorbell camera videos exist of drivers dropping a package at a front door, taking a picture with their cellphone to prove delivery was made, and then picking the package back up and taking it with them. Drivers have been fired for this offense after the security video was made available.
Porch Piracy Statistics
Porch piracy statistics are difficult to come by as currently no central database exists to monitor the activity. The FBI doesn’t currently keep track of national statistics but a report by Xfinity Home security service suggests that 30% of Americans have been victimized at one time or another. Other surveys believe it could as high as 36% or more.
With more people working from home combined with the continued increase in online shopping and home delivery plus the effects of COVID lock downs, people are receiving more frequent deliveries to their house. Because the theft of a package from a front door may only take seconds, it’s a quick crime of opportunity that can occur even if someone is inside the home at the time. If they don’t hear the doorbell or are working and can’t be interrupted, they may not even notice the theft taking place.
Package Theft Specifics
As mentioned, the national prevalence of package theft isn’t currently tabulated and is left up to individual states to account for and deal with porch piracy. Local police departments deal with the crimes and have an idea of how frequently it occurs based on their investigations and suggest that many of the thefts are committed by repeat offenders.
And some criminals have stepped up their game in terms of how they target potential victims. While some thieves may simply walk past a house, see a package and decide to steal it, many more will drive around a neighborhood looking for unattended packages on the front doorstep of a home. There have also been reports of thieves actually following delivery trucks and stealing the package after the delivery driver left the goods at someone’s front door.
Porch Piracy Act
States have begun to crack down on porch piracy by specifically criminalizing the activity. On November 1, 2020 the Porch Piracy Act of 2020 came into effect in Oklahoma to address the increased theft of items left unattended at a residence. The act specifically refers to mail, postcards, packages, bags, or any other article addressed to a person that is left for delivery or otherwise not yet physically collected by the owner.
The Act calls for a first offense misdemeanor conviction punishable by up to 1 year in jail or a fine of no more than $500. If three or more separate offenses occur within a 60 day period, the Act specifies a felony conviction punishable with a jail term of 2 – 5 years in length, a fine of no more than $5,000 or a combination of jail time and a fine. Convicted persons are also subject to paying restitution to their victims.
The felony conviction for multiple offenses was designed to account for the fact that many package thefts are from repeat offenders, people who continually steal other people’s goods.
Porch Pirates And The Law
While the Porch Piracy Act of 2020 in Oklahoma attempts to dissuade package theft with a first time misdemeanor conviction, Texas went a bit more hardcore. In 2019 House Bill 37 was enacted to punish porch pirates with even more severity in the state, namely a sentence of six months to 10 years in prison along with fines ranging from $4,000 to $10,000.
Some police stations have also gotten into the act to assist homeowners who receive packages that would otherwise be left unattended. In 2017, Glenn Heights Police in North Texas began running their Operation Front Porch campaign to target package theft. People can have their packages delivered to the police station and can then pick them up with photo ID to avoid having them stolen from outside their home. The service is currently offered from early November until right before Christmas.
This same police station also offers year round Safety Exchange Zones where buyers and sellers on Craigslist, eBay and other websites can meet in the station parking lot to complete their transaction safely.
Summary
A porch pirate is a person who steals unattended items that have been left at the front door of a residence and have yet to be collected by the owner. The crime is not currently centrally monitored at a national level so statistics are hard to come by. Local police who investigate the crimes have noticed a large increase over the past number of years as online shopping and home delivery of goods becomes more popular.
The increase in people working from home does not appear to have dissuaded porch pirates from stealing items from an occupied home since the crime only takes several seconds to complete. While a doorbell camera or other security device may identify the culprit, it may not prevent the crime.
If you’re looking for ways to eliminate your unattended packages from being stolen, check out my article called How To Prevent Package Theft.