Porch pirates on the prowl—MPD reports rise in package thefts during holidays
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Porch Pirates are on the prowl and preparing for this holiday season, but are you?
As major online retailers gear up this holiday season for their busiest time of year, Memphis police are reminding you to take the extra steps to thieves at bay.
“What we have seen last year is the numbers of the porch pirates going up,” MPD Deputy Chief Joe Oakley said.
Memphis Police reports while overall crime is down, porch piracy thefts are up 7.7%.
In November 2023, Memphis police saw 62 porch theft incidents, then the following month, in December 2023, 111.
That’s about a 95% increase.“It’s easy money, people know that others are ordering gifts and having them delivered to their homes and people want an easy way to get their own Christmas presents they steal them,” said Oakley.
To prevent this, MPD is encouraging homeowners and businesses to connect their surveillance cameras to Connect 2 Memphis.
This way, detectives can monitor your property at the department’s Real Time Crime Center. Registering your at-home camera is free online.
“Today we have over 1500 integrated cameras with the real-time crime center with their business in homeowners, and we have a little over 9500 registered cameras in the city,” said Oakley.
MPD’s goal is to have 10,000 integrated and registered cameras to prevent crime, save time, and begin working immediately.
“If we go this way, we connect Memphis.
It takes eight hours and allows the detective to investigate,” said Oakley. You can find more information about “Connect 2 Memphis click here.
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