TULSA, Okla — As the holiday shopping season ramps up, porch pirates pounce on packages delivered to doorsteps.
According to Security.org's 2024 Package Theft Annual Report and Statistics online purchases generate about 22 billion packages each year.
Its findings include:
- Porch pirates stole $12 billion worth of packages in the last year
- 1-in4 Americans have been victims of porch pirates
- Apartment dwellers experience package theft at double the rate of those who live in homes
To combat porch piracy, Oklahoma lawmakers passed the Oklahoma Porch Pirate Act in 2020.
It makes the first and second porch piracy offenses a misdemeanor, with penalties of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. Three or more offenses in a 60-day period bump it up to a felony, with convictions carrying up to two years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.
2 News asked the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office how many people it charged and convicted of porch piracy and if any were repeat offenders. It turns out not many people have been prosecuted under this law in Tulsa County. Ging back to May of 2020, only:
- 37 people charged
- 17 convicted (some cases are still pending)
- 4 repeat offenders
Representative Ross Ford of Broken Arrow authored the Porch Pirate Act. He told 2 News it may be time to revisit this law since so few have been prosecuted under it, at least in Tulsa County.
Parcel Safe Systemsis a new Tulsa company building in-wall and pedestal style vaults for home and small business package delivery.
Some are simple pull open boxes that allow packages to be dropped into a vault or through your home's wall. More sophisticated models have keypads that allow owners to provide one-time, time restricted, or multiple use access to delivery people. Once the package is inserted a photo is sent to the user's app to let them know it arrived.
Other ways to protect your packages include Walmart and Amazon services that allow you to give a code to delivery people to put packages in your garage.
You can also do like Kenna Yapa, "I have all my stuff delivered to my office so I don't have to worry about it as much."
If you do have a package stolen:
- Report it to the retailer and shipping company
- Report it to your credit card issuer
- Report it to local law enforcement
Also check with your credit card issuer and shipper to see if your purchase is covered in the event of theft.
Contact the Problem Solvers:
- 918-748-1502
- problemsolvers@kjrh.com
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