Chief’s Column: Protect your packages during the holiday season

The Grafton Police Department would once again like to remind residents to take extra care this time of year when having mail and packages delivered to their residence. Please review the following suggestions to help protect yourself and your belongings.

Protect Outgoing Mail and Packages:

• Do not leave mail with checks or money orders in your personal mailbox for pickup by the mail carrier. Take your mail to a postal collection box. These boxes are safer and more secure because they are locked.
• Further protect yourself by taking your mail to a post office and handing it to a postal worker yourself.
• Never send cash in the mail.
• Do not leave packages on your front porch for pick up by private carriers. Using FedEx or UPS does not mean your packages will be safer. Often, when drivers deliver packages, they leave them sitting on the front porch. During the holidays, thieves will drive around neighborhoods looking for boxes on porches to steal.
• If you are sending a package, let the person you are sending it to know that it is coming and when to expect it to arrive so they can make arrangements for pick up.
• Most carriers provide tracking numbers so you can follow the progress of shipping from start to destination. If available, obtain a tracking number to ensure that packages reach their proper destination.
• Insure any packages you are sending for the replacement cost of the items shipped. Most carriers and the Postal Service offer insurance.

Protect Incoming Mail and Packages:

• Install a security camera, doorbell camera or peephole camera. There are hundreds of home security systems available that are easy to install and offer reliable technology. A visible camera will deter a “porch pirate” and alert you via your cell phone to suspicious activity. In the event that your package does get stolen, you should have ample evidence for follow up.
• Promptly retrieve your mail. The United States Postal Inspection Service strongly recommends that you pick up mail from your mailbox as soon as possible after delivery, especially if you are expecting to receive a check or merchandise.
• If you can’t pick up your mail each day, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to do it for you. The Postal Service can also hold your mail if you’ll be traveling during the holidays.
• Request a specific delivery date and time from the shipper when you know you will be home.
• Provide delivery instructions to the shipper so that packages can be left at a safe location at your home that is out of sight from the street.
• Sign up for delivery alerts (text messages or e-mails) from the shipper; call a trusted neighbor when the packages are delivered, and ask them to take the packages inside for safekeeping until you get home.
• Request that the shipper require a signature confirmation upon delivery; this will prevent your package from being left at an unattended home.
• Report Mail Theft: Many of the arrests made by Postal Inspectors are related to mail theft. If you receive mail with the contents missing or fail to receive mail you were expecting, you may be a victim of mail fraud. Contact the shipper first to be sure the items were sent properly. If you determine that the shipper was not at fault, immediately file a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Grafton Police Department.

Happy Holidays from the members of the Grafton Police Department

Normand A. Crepeau, Jr.

Chief of Police