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Simple Precautions to Prevent Package Thefts

If you are shopping online for school clothes or supplies, consider these tips to reduce the risk of having your packages stolen from your residence.

Packages left unattended on your porch make for easy targets for criminals. These thefts commonly occur during normal working hours, since many people are not at home. To avoid becoming a victim of package theft, the Santa Clara Police Department recommends:
• If your employer will allow it, have packages delivered to your office.
• Request that the shipper hold your package at their pick-up facility or local branch from a large retailer so you can pick it up in person at your convenience.
• Request that the shipper require a signature confirmation upon delivery; this will prevent your package from being left at an unattended home.
• Request a specific delivery date and time from the shipper when you know you will be home.
• Provide delivery instructions to the shipper so that packages can be left at a safe location at your home that is out of sight from the street.
• Sign up for delivery alerts (text messages or e-mails) from the shipper; call a trusted neighbor when the packages are delivered, and ask them to take the packages inside for safekeeping until you get home.
• Have packages delivered to a place where they can be received in person, such as the home of a trusted neighbor who stays home during the day or a retired relative.
• If you don’t already know your neighbors, introduce yourself. Encourage your neighbors to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. Please call our 24-hour dispatch center at 9-1-1 to report suspicious activity immediately.
• There may be other secure delivery options, depending on the vendor you use. Be sure to ask! For example, Amazon.com has an option for purchases made on their website called “Amazon Lockers,” which delivers your package to a secure site at a local convenience store.
• Consider joining Nextdoor (www.nextdoor.com), a free, private, neighborhood-based social network. The Police Department uses Nextdoor as one of the many ways we provide crime prevention information to our community, but it’s also a great way for you to connect with your neighbors and learn about things that are happening in your neighborhood.

If you have been a package theft victim, report the incident online with the Santa Clara Police Department.