5 Ways To Stop Porch Pirates In Oak Forest

OAK FOREST, IL — Online shopping has reached an all-time high due to the coronavirus pandemic as package thieves gear up for the holiday season in Oak Forest and across the country.

Oak Forest Police Chief Jason Reid said residents should do their best to be home when packages arrive to avoid any theft.

"Schedule a delivery to the location you will be at or to someone else who will be home," Reid said. "People are lurking about to find packages on the driveway of homes ... work a deal with a neighbor to send it over to their house, just to be safe."

Reid also pointed out that some distributors will deliver packages to a locker facility, and that there is one available on 175th and Oak Park Ave.

"Another thing to mention is that timing matters. In the evening hours, people are usually home. If neighbors see an unfamiliar person lurking around, they are more likely to call police," Reid said. "Camera systems help too. If a thief sees a camera they will probably walk away."

Reid said cameras have helped police figure out who thieves are in the past. Charges for those caught can range based on the price value of the project, such as a citation or a felony, Reid said.

The chief said there has been no drastic upticks in package theft in the city, but using these tips should help keep it that way as we continue through the holiday season.

More than 5.5 million Americans have been victimized by package thefts over the past year, according to Finder, a personal finance comparison website, in a study released in November.

About $5.4 billion worth of items were stolen in package thefts from November 2019 to November 2020, the Finder determined.

Because of the busy online shopping month of December, that number is likely to grow by the end of the year.

Fewer people were in the nation’s malls on Black Friday, and Cyber Monday is expected to become the busiest online shopping day of all time when all sales are totaled, according to The Associated Press.

Overall holiday season sales in 2020 are expected to rise 0.9 percent, with a 36 percent jump in online sales, a study by the research company eMarketer shows.

Porch pirates could see a prime opportunity to take advantage of the expected spike in packages left at front doors.

They usually get away with it, too. Only 11 percent of victims said the culprits were caught, according to a 2019 study by C+R Research.

Who Steals A Package?

Men are found to be more likely to be both package thieves and victims of the crime, according to the Finder study. With 5.29 percent of men admitting having stolen a package compared with 0.85 percent of women, men are more than 500 percent more likely to be package thieves than women, the study found.

Seventeen percent of men say a package of theirs was stolen during the past year, compared with 11 percent for women.

Still, 86 percent of the nearly 2,000 participants in the study said they have not experienced a package theft since this time last year.

Prevention Tips

Here are five tips Finder shared to help Americans keep from becoming a victim of a package theft:

• Try curbside pickup: Drive to the store; most of them offer curbside pickup options.
• Use a post office box: This will ensure the package is handled by a professional at the Oak Forest post office.
• Video surveillance: Doorbell cameras such as Ring can allow homeowners to scare away the thief in real time.
• Require a signature: This way, the package cannot go unattended.
• Have it sent to your workplace: Public places typically have a greater chance of using security cameras.