Keep an eye out for porch pirates

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The holiday season and Santa Claus will be dropping gifts off at your house in just a few short weeks.

But, in the meantime, porch pirates are out and about taking packages off your front porch.

It’s a frustrating feeling having package delivered and then disappear.

Unfortunately, though, tis the season for porch pirates.

The Bowling Green Police Department’s Ronnie Ward says there is typically an uptick in thefts around Christmas time.

“It’s more prevalent, seemingly, around the holidays because people do more shopping. Because there’s a higher number of packages out there, the people will spend more time during that season stealing those. You can go through a neighborhood in the middle of summer, and you might find one or two but typically there’s a lot more [near Christmas] so it’s worth their time to wait until holiday season,” said Ward.

You can request UPS and Amazon to deliver your packages to a back or side door instead of the front porch.

“Even some companies will let you come pick it up instead of having it delivered to your home. Those are all good ideas just to try to keep them out of view because someone is not typically going to walk around your house, they want to make a quick getaway so they’re going to come up to your porch, take it and get away very quickly,” said Ward.

He also says, if your package is stolen, having a working camera system helps the police catch the person responsible.

One local says she has a camera system that alerts her if it detects motion on her property.

“This is the time of year where people really want to get everything, they can my neighbors across the street had someone just walk into the house with a Richard and take some things from them, so they have a security system now,” said Carolyn Lemily, a local.

She says she has never had a package stolen but knows several people who have and hopes her camera system keeps her and her items safe.

If you are the victim of theft, contact local law enforcement quickly and share any video you may have so that they can put a stop to the crime.