Package Theft A Growing Concern In Romeoville

ROMEOVILLE, IL — As consumer buying habits shift to online shopping, porch pirates in Bolingbrook are lurking, ready to pounce on holiday and other packages left at the door by delivery services. A new report shows 36 percent of Americans had a package stolen at least once in the past 12 months.

In Romeoville, the police register between 10-12 package thefts reports each year, said Commander Robert Fetzer. From Nov. 1, 2019 to Nov. 30, 2020, the department received 14 reports.

Even though this is a growing concern, he said the number of incidents do not increase during the holidays. According to the data he provided:

• There were 10 package theft reports in 2018 with none in November and only one in December.
• In 2019, there were 12 reports with three in November and none in December.
• This year, there have been 11 reports so far with none in November.

Fetzer said that porch pirates poach packages, and they are often bold and steal in broad daylight. They are also sneaky and try to swipe packages without being seen. Although it is not easy to track down the offenders, installing home cameras can help the police in identifying them.

Ways to avoid package thefts are:

• Arrange deliveries for when you know you'll be home.
• Ask a neighbor to keep an eye out for your package.
• Ship packages to your place of employment.

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.