BUFFALO, N.Y. — The holiday season is not the only thing at Western New York’s doorstep.
Police are warning that package thieves are up to no good again.
This year-round concern for law enforcement becomes even more prevalent November through December as more online orders get delivered to people’s homes during this time of the year.
“Our numbers are going up on this type of crime. Where before it was, you know, a couple 100. Now it's much more than that,” New York State Police Public Information Officer Trooper James O’Callaghan said.
Neighbors on Nextdoor and other social media sites in Western New York have been sharing their strife in recent weeks, in the City of Buffalo and the suburbs.
A Buffalo Police spokesperson told 2 On Your Side that a would-be thief on the West Side was recently thwarted when a postal worker intervened.
The mail carrier reportedly yelled out and the suspect ran off in the area of Ontario and Newfield streets.
B-District Buffalo Police Chief Tommy Champion said that sometimes the greatest way to prevent package theft is to have neighbors on your side.
He offered a few other tips.
“Leaving instructions with the actual carrier or deliverer about where you want those packages left, if you're not going to be there for a prolonged period of time, let them know not to make that delivery, or possibly sending it to a P.O. box or another place,” Chief Champion said.
Some carriers such as Amazon allow customers to have photos of their packages being delivered sent right to their phones.
Amazon, FedEx, UPS and USPS will also let you opt in to requiring a signature for delivery or pick up your package at a drop box or store.
“That is actually a daily conversation with Amazon about finding safe and secure locations, sometimes about educating the customer that we might put it at a back door or someplace unique,” said Brad Keysor of BMK logistics, the Amazon Delivery Service Partner that operates the Hamburg “Last Mile” facility off Route 5.
Police add if you have a package stolen, before going online to reorder or get your money back, call police to report the crime.
Trooper O’Callaghan said a lot of people don’t take this step and later find out they aren’t alone.
“We start spreading out from that specific location outward. And we find that it's not just the one person that got stuff taken. It's multiple, it could be 5, 10, 15 people on the same street,” O’Callaghan said.
Chief Champion added: “The sooner we're able to get that information that faster we can respond and start working on that case and the more evidence we can have to try and resolve the matter.”
Security and doorbell cameras can help deter some would be thieves, although some are brazen enough to to ignore them.