North and South Carolina Have the Most Porch Pirates
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, especially for package thieves. New research reveals just how many packages have been stolen from porches across the country in the last 12 months and the cities where it’s most likely to happen. To find out how common this kind of theft is happening, security website Safewise asked a thousand people about their “personal run-ins with dastardly porch pirates.”
According to the survey:
- 210-million packages were stolen from porches in the U.S. in the last year
- 64.1% of Americans have been victims of package theft in the past 12 months, 36% more than last year
- And 53.5% had multiple packages taken during that time
- Some courier companies are more popular with parcel swipers. Amazon deliveries make up 53.9% of thefts, FedEx comes in a distant second with 15.5% and UPS is third with 11%
- More than half the stolen packages are worth between $50 and $200
“Package theft is a crime of opportunity,” explains Dr. Ben Stickle, an expert on criminal justice and package theft. “The more packages are left for longer periods of time on a porch, the more likely they are to be stolen.” He says that package stealing is a “low-entry crime” because there are “no special skills needed to walk up to a driveway and steal a package” and adds that the risk is very low and even if they get caught, punishment is minimal.
As for the cities where porch pirates are most likely to hit:
- Denver, Colorado, comes in first, taking San Francisco’s three-year spot at the top
- San Francisco is now second, followed by Salt Lake City, Utah, and Seattle, Washington, is in fourth place
- Rounding out the top 10 are San Antonio, Texas; Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; Greenville, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Hartford, Connecticut.
Source: New York Post
