More Ring doorbell videos from area residents have brought to light that porch piracy is starting up again, specifically in a northwest Reno neighborhood.
From the videos, there were three different incidents involving someone taking packages from homes on April 24.
Police told us more about what they've been noticing regarding porch pirates, and Chris Johnson, the Public Information Officer for the Reno Police Department, says whether or not porch piracy increases depends on the time of year.
Police say there is a noticeable increase during the spring and during holidays.
"In the springtime and several other times throughout the year, we do see an increase in "porch pirates" when people are ordering a lot of things online, whether that's Amazon Prime Day, whether it's Christmas or any other major holidays, or it's springtime and you're ordering new furniture for the patio or need new clothes for spring and summer," said Johnson. "Anytime that we're seeing an increase in deliveries to residences, we could see an increase in individuals trying to steal those packages off the porch."
Johnson also explains that porch piracy happens more in residential areas because it's a crime of opportunity. Often times you may see people driving up and down the street taking a look at where packages may be left after they are delivered, which is when the porch pirates take the opportunity to get out of the car and run up to the front of the house to take the package from the rightful owner and run away.
Police say porch pirates use many different tactics.
"They could follow around Amazon delivery drivers or UPS or FedEx and see what neighborhoods they just delivered in, and then they'll wait for however long a period they'd like, and they'll go into that same neighborhood and try to take packages off individuals' porches," said Johnson.
Johnson also says the best thing you can do to protect yourself after a package gets delivered is to pick it up as soon as you can.
If you're not going to be home for an extended period of time, you could always think about having it delivered to another location or letting a neighbor know to grab the package for you.
Johnson reminds everyone that if you do get a package stolen from your porch, the biggest thing you can do is report it stolen.
"If you have a Ring camera system or any other system, make sure you save that video footage and include that in your report," he said. "So, we're not able to determine if there is any type of crime trend happening if those crimes are not being reported to us."
Johnson says you should report any item stolen, no matter the price.
