With the holiday season fast approaching, you might be thinking about making online gift purchases to be delivered to your house. 

Constable Reggie Pawliw with the Moose Jaw Police Service had some advice on how to protect yourself from potential ‘porch pirates’ this season. 

He said if it’s in your budget, security cameras for the front porch are a good choice. “It’s a huge asset to have – especially for when it comes to police and evidence, to try and identify people’s faces, what they’re wearing, and what direction they’re travelling.” 

The location of the package is also important, and he recommended leaving a note to have the delivery driver leave the package in a less visible location like the backyard, or have it dropped off where you work.  

“If I’m not going to be home for an extended amount of time, I will get stuff delivered to my workplace, where I know it’s going to be there so that I have it, and it’s not going to be sitting outside for numerous hours where people can see it in broad daylight.” 

He added that opting for package tracking or a signature on delivery is a way to make sure that packages aren’t being left unattended.  

If you do have a package stolen, let the police know using their Online Crime Reporting form, or by calling them at their non-emergency number at 306-694-7600.  

"They have to contact their shipping supplier or sender,” said Pawliw. “Lots of those shipping suppliers and those people you bought the package from require a police file number. You’ll have to report that to the police and if everything works out and we give you a file number, you can give that to that shipping company.” 

He also recommended reaching out to your credit card company as you may have insurance for stolen items.  

Pawliw said that package thefts are relatively uncommon in Moose Jaw. Last year saw a six-block radius around the downtown core being particularly hard-hit by package thefts, but the individuals responsible were caught, and police are currently seeing fewer instances of packages being stolen.  

“In the year 2022, Moose Jaw had 875 separate theft under $5000 claims,” said Pawliw. “My estimation for those being porch pirates would probably be under 5 per cent of that.” 

That works out to approximately 44 ‘porch pirate’ thefts last year.  

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, Discover Moose Jaw encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the Discover Moose Jaw app HERE.