Windsor Police Remind Residents to be Vigilant of Porch Pirate Thefts During the Holiday Season

The Windsor Police Department would like to remind residents to be mindful and vigilant of their online package deliveries. With the holiday season approaching, this rings in the rise of residents placing online shopping orders with deliveries straight to their doorstep, resulting in package thefts also known as “porch pirate” thefts.

Porch pirate thefts happen everywhere and persist of packages being stolen off porches. According to Commander Aaron Lopez, “…we do see an annual uptick in such cases around the holidays, when delivery companies are making more deliveries and packages often sit while recipients are away from home.”

Consider following these tips to avoid package thefts:

• Ask a neighbor to pick up a package if you’re away from home
• Offer to pick up a neighbor’s packages for them
• Request for packages to be sent to your post office or participating location
• Call the Windsor Police regarding suspected package theft
• Share surveillance footage of a package theft in action

If you fall victim to porch pirates, please report it by calling the Windsor Police immediately.

Knowing this, the Windsor Police Department wants to work with its community to make it harder for criminals to succeed by launching the Secure Streets video share program. By crowdsourcing information about property owners’ video devices, Windsor Police database that allows them to quickly contact property owners for video footage that can potentially help identify, apprehend and prosecute criminals.

Participation in the Secure Streets program is completely voluntary. Property owners who have private video security systems that record public areas such as streets, sidewalks or parking lots register their cameras with the department.

If you are interested in participating in the Secure Streets Program, register by submitting a form online to the Windsor Police website, windsorpd.com/FormCenter/Police-Department-4/Secure-Streets-61 .

For more information, visit windsorpd.com or call the Windsor Police Department at 970-674-6400.