Police Using Holiday Delivery Bait Packages Equipped with GPS Trackers
13 Dec 2018One police department in New Jersey has developed a successful method to combat holiday porch pirates, and they are warning any potential package thieves in the area that they are watching this holiday season.
Porch Pirates
Porch pirates are individuals who steal packages directly from a person’s doorstep. Thieves make off with the merchandise, and the mailing service has already marked the package as delivered. The baffled customer never receives their products. Sadly, porch pirating increases around the holiday season because many people utilize the mail to purchase, send and receive their gifts. According to experts, nearly one in four American citizens have been victimized by porch pirates. One report from InsuranceQuotes stated that about 25.9 million Americans were impacted by porch thieves in 2016. SafeWise determined that some of the most vulnerable areas include Texas, Utah, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Washington and Massachusetts.
The Gloucester Township Police Department’s Plan to Fight Porch Pirates
The Gloucester Township Police Department is well aware of the porch pirate problem. These types of crimes always increase during the holiday season because of the increase in packages being sent.
To combat this problem, the department has come up with an inventive plan. Authorities have created several decoy packages that are each equipped with a special GPS tracking device. The package is deployed by making it look as if it were a typical mail delivery. The package is left on a doorstep in an attempt to lure in potential thieves. If the package gets taken from a doorstep, then police are immediately notified through an alert.
Authorities can then pinpoint the thief’s location by using the GPS sensor. Police decided to begin using this system last year, and they have already successfully netted at least seven arrests using the system. Police have utilized similar methods in tracking down bicycle thieves.
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