SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 20, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City is No. 2 in the nation for package theft from porches during the holiday season, according to a new report.
Last year the big three package delivery services, UPS, FedEx, and USPS, delivered an estimated two billion packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, according to the report from Safewise.com.
In total, some 26 million packages are stolen during the holiday season nationwide. The No. 1 metro area where this occurs is Austin, Texas, with Salt Lake City at No. 2 and Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida at No. 3.
The report said that Salt Lake City’s overall rate is 32.6 thefts per 1,000 people in a year — almost twice the national average of 17.
Half of the top holiday package theft metro areas also land in the top 10 for larceny-theft overall — Salt Lake City is No. 1 on this list.
And perhaps surprisingly, New York is the safest place for holiday package delivery, with St. Louis, Missouri at No. 2.
The 10 metro areas with the highest rate of holiday package rate are:
- Austin, Texas
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
- Seattle-Tacoma, Washington
- Houston, Texas
- Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
- Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida
- Boston, Massachusetts
The 10 metro areas with the lowest rate of holiday package rate are:
- New York City, New York
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Portland, Oregon
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
- Sacramento-Stockton, California
- Washington, D.C.
- Denver, Colorado
- San Francisco-Oakland, California
- Detroit, Michigan
- San Diego, California
Salt Lake Police Department recently took part in a two-day package theft operation to help track suspects as the holiday season gets underway.
The SLCPD along with partners from the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office and the Utah Attorney General’s Office collaborated on the operation, according to a news release from the police department. Amazon and its home security company, Ring, also assisted with the operation.
Officers placed several packages throughout Salt Lake City in order to seek out potential package thieves. The decoy packages used in the operation contained trackers that could be used to track the various packages if they were stolen.
“Although no arrests were made during the operation, officers were able to obtain information on several individuals believed to be involved in package thefts in Salt Lake City and they are following up on that information,” the news release said. “The Salt Lake City Police Department will continue to run similar operations throughout this holiday season.”
The SLCPD asks people to use the following tips to avoid package theft:
- Track your packages — if possible, be home when packages are delivered.
- Have packages delivered to a neighbor or business where someone can accept the package.
- Have a neighbor watch for packages and place them in a safe location to be picked up later.
- If you don’t have somewhere safe to have the package delivered, ask for it to be held at the shipper’s facility for pick-up.
Anyone who is a victim of a package theft or would like to file a report can call the police department on 801-799-3000 or report the theft online here.
The Safewise.com report also offered the following tips:
- Add insurance and require a signature for delivery
- Use a package locker (Amazon Lockers, PO Box)
- Install security cameras or a doorbell camera
What to do if a package is stolen
- Contact the carrier and the retailer
- File a report with insurance, police, the carrier, etc.
- Alert your credit card company
- Check your video footage
- Check your neighbor’s video footage
