Crime & Safety
Porch Pirates Hit Wauwatosa Neighborhoods Before Christmas
Several package thefts were reported to Wauwatosa Police prior to the Christmas holiday.
WAUWATOSA,WI— The porch pirates out out. A person reported a package worth $82 was stolen on Dec. 12 in on North 91st Street shortly after it was delivered.
On Dec. 19, on Saint James Street, a person reported a package delivered by FedEx containing a $300 Nintendo Switch was stolen from his front porch. Also on the same day on North 111th Street, a person said merchandise worth $183 was stolen after it was delivered to a home. Also on Dec. 19, a person stole five packages worth $275 from a porch on West Wisconsin Avenue.
On Tuesday, a man stole two packages worth $50 on North 108th Street. THe man was last seen driving a white Jaguar F-Pace with white rims and is involved with several other package thefts in Wauwatosa.
On Wednesday, a person stole two packages worth $294 from a porch on North 124th Street.
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On Thursday, an Amazon package worth $29 was reported stolen from North 101 Street. The suspect was described as 25-30 years old, 220 pounds and wearing a black sweatshirt.
The suspect's car was described as a 2007 tan Chrysler Town &. Also on Thursday, an Amazon package worth $60 was stolen and the same suspect and car was described. Two packages worth $112 were also stolen from a front porch on north 86th Street.
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Police provided the following tips:
- When possible choose in-store pickup
- Be home to receive the delivery
- Require a signature when your package is delivered
More than 5.5 million Americans have been victimized by package thefts over the past year, according to Finder, a personal finance comparison website, in a study released in November.
About $5.4 billion worth of items were stolen in package thefts from November 2019 to November 2020, the Finder determined.
Because of the busy online shopping month of December, that number is likely to grow by the end of the year.
Porch pirates could see a prime opportunity to take advantage of the expected spike in packages left at front doors.
They usually get away with it, too. Only 11 percent of victims said the culprits were caught, according to a 2019 study by C+R Research.
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