Beware of Porch Poachers during the Holidays

During the holiday season, porch poachers, thieves that steal delivered packages off your doorstep, are a big problem.  Rabun County Sheriff Chad Nichols offers this advice on how to make sure you receive the packages that you order.  “That can be an issue this time of year, especially with the amount of Christmas presents and just with the overall amount of people ordering anything online now.  Usually, they send you that tracking number, keep a track on your package as it makes its way to your residence, and when you see a day it is going to be delivered try to have somebody there.  Have a family member or a friend be there.  Even when you order, if you have a neighbor that is home a lot, maybe speak with them and see if you could have packages left there.”  Security cameras are the best defense against porch poachers, adds Sheriff Nichols.  “Another thing that would be good and would be good overall if your home was burglarized or anything like that would be to have some type of cameras at your residence.  They’re fairly inexpensive to really expensive.  You can go buy a game camera and put it somewhere that your packages are usually put and be able to get a picture of that because law enforcement can do so much with a picture of a vehicle, person, and a tag.  We can do so much in investigations to try to track your package or if your home was burglarized to be able to track down the people.  We rely on the community a lot when we get those pictures or videos to help us identify them.”  The best advice is to have someone home to receive the package when it is delivered, so it doesn’t sit on the front porch tempting thieves to steal it.