Man Hoping To Avoid Holiday Package Thieves Stays Home From Work
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4) - A Highlands Ranch man says he is taking extreme measures to deter thieves who have been stealing packages outside homes during the holiday season.
In order to prevent such thieves from striking at his address, Jeff Davis took two days off of work to make sure he'd be home when his packages were delivered.
"I've always used Amazon, you know, online shopping, and I've never had a problem. This year I'm a little concerned about it ... because of the news stories I've seen of theft," he said.
Officials with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department said the criminals have stolen at least six different UPS packages outside homes this month. The crimes have taken place in Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock and Parker.
In some cases, the thieves have followed UPS trucks and then stopped, waited for them to deliver a package, then walked up to the front of the house and stolen the boxes.
The crime has also been reported in other Denver suburban areas recently.
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An estimated 300,000 packages will be delivered every day in the Denver metro area in upcoming days, and police say they are on alert.
"The volume, the amount of packages being delivered this year, is pretty extraordinary, and so it definitely has the potential (to happen)," Douglas County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ron Hanavan said.
Davis told CBS4 he has a message for the criminals who are doing this.
"That's disgusting, to be honest with you," he said.
Davis said he's confident the robbers who are doing this are going to get caught. But in the meantime he thinks it's good to have a plan.
"As soon as the doorbell rings I go out there, get the packages and would bring them on in," Davis said.
Hanavan recommends consumers have packages delivered to areas where a signature is necessary.
"Or have it delivered to a trusted neighbor," he said.
Authorities say it's also a good idea to save confirmation emails on orders of items that are shipped.
A spokeperson for UPS told CBS4 they recommend people take advantage of an app called My Choice. The app costs $5 and it allows a consumer to tell the company exactly when and where they want the package to be delivered.
