Public safety officials have warned the public to watch out for porch pirates looking to disrupt the joy and cheerful nature of the holidays.
Investigator Aaron Nguyen with the Hall County Sheriff's Office said Hall County experiences an increase in package thefts during the holiday season due to the increase in the number of items ordered online. However, Nguyen said many people don't report package thefts when they occur.
"Companies like Amazon, you can simply notify them that your package didn't arrive or that it was stolen, and a lot times, they'll just reimburse you the money or they'll reship the package," Nguyen said. "So victims don't contact law enforcement. It was replaced and they're happy with that answer."
Nguyen said package thefts typically increase in Hall County from about Thanksgiving until the middle of January.
"These crews, they'll come into Hall County and they may hit one subdivision and then they'll go over to Forsyth County and they'll hit another subdivision, and then maybe down to Gwinnett County," Nguyen said. "They do that for multiple reasons. One, to make sure there's no heat on them. The other thing is they know that sometimes it gets challenging with piecing that information together with three different agencies."
He said a lot of these thefts are "Crimes of Opportunity," where the criminal will simply wait to see if they can find an opportunity to find a house with packages on the porch.
"Somebody will sit in the pool area of a subdivision or an apartment complex, and they simply wait for the Amazon truck, the UPS truck or FedEx truck," Nguyen said. "They simply just follow the truck. They'll write down the addresses where a package was delivered and then they go back through and start stealing packages."
Nguyen said the criminals typically target subdivisions with multiple homes.
Once the packages have been snatched by a criminal, Nguyen said they typically attempt to sell the items on Facebook Marketplace.
To protect your package from theft, Nguyen recommended speaking with a neighbor about watching the item or setting up notifications on your deliveries so that you can travel home and pick up the package soon after arrival. He also recommended having the package shipped to your place of work.
"If you know that the package is coming, with a lot of [shipping carriers], you can leave detailed instructions for the driver like, 'Hey, I want you to put it on the front porch behind a bench,'" Nguyen said. "The biggest thing is now it's out of sight."
Nguyen also recommended shipping your item to an Amazon Locker or a UPS store for pick up. You can also set up a locker on your front porch, or a new high-tech solution according to Nguyen.
"It's called Package Guard," Nguyen said. "Once the weight of that box is set on the scale, it actually sends an audible alarm and it sends a notification to your phone that the package has been removed from the scale."
Video cameras and video doorbells are also useful deterrents.
If you believe that your package has been stolen, first attempt to contact neighbors in case it was delivered to the wrong address, or if the neighbor brought the package inside out of precaution.
Those who believe their package has been stolen should contact the shipping carrier, the supplier and the Hall County Sheriff's Office. Citizens can file a report on the Hall County Sheriff's Office website here.
If you happen to witness a package theft in progress, Nguyen said do not chase after the suspect, but make sure you can get a good description of the suspect, their clothing and their vehicle. Call 911 and report the matter immediately so that patrol units can make their way to the area.
