VIDEO: Holiday Package Security And How To Avoid “Porch Pirates”

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- The holiday’s are here and that has many people rushing to their local post office to send off their Christmas gifts.

“There’s a lot more packages being delivered and there’s a lot more reports of someone coming home saying they never received their package,” says Columbus Police Department Captain Donnie Elkin.

They’re called “Porch Pirates” and it happens a lot more than you think.

Elkin tells us he’s seen it firsthand.

“When I was off duty I was watching and saw someone walk up to someone’s front porch pick up a package, walk off and of course I got some officers to come stop them. They’d already opened it, it was a purse, and the lady already had it on her shoulder toting it around like it was hers,” says Elkin.

Both law enforcement and postal office officials want everyone to be on the lookout.

“We’re just asking the people that once you order something, if you know about when it’s going to be delivered you know just be on the lookout for it. If you’re not going to be at home, either have a neighbor, family member, someone come by and be on the lookout for it,” says Elkin.

There are also alternative methods.

“If your work will allow it, we ask you to you know have it delivered to your work. That’s just a safety precaution. Because if you leave it there on your porch, it may be home, or it may not,” says Elkin.

The post office agrees this is a good plan but ensures us that carriers do not leave packages on doorsteps.

“You can always have an alternate address, say if you wanted to send it to your office but it’s very rare that mail is going to be left out at apartment complexes, not on the doorstep. The only time a carrier would actually leave a package is if a customer specifically asked,” says Columbus Post Office employee Donald Pope.

Also, all packages sent will receive a specific bar-code that acts as a tracking device.

“If you’re tracking a package it’s going to show you every event. When it arrived at our unit, when it’s out for delivery, when it has been attempted, when it has actually been delivered,” says Pope.

They tell us the worst thing you can do is procrastinate, so know your deadlines..

“Your military and international stuff, December the 9th would probably be the very last day that you have a chance of it getting there by Christmas time. And stateside like on your ground mail, the 15th of December is the cut off on that one, first class mail the 20th, priority mail like the 21st, and for your overnight express the 23rd would definitely be the last day for that one,” says Pope.

Post office officials are already seeing long lines and high package volumes.

The Columbus Post Office has seen over 9-thousand packages in the past two weeks alone.