By Louise Rogers-Feher, Baltimore County Police Department

Delivery trucks are on the move with the holiday season in full swing. But all those delivery trucks tell would-be burglars and thieves that someone is getting a package that will most likely end up on the porch or outside a customer’s door.

Think about this for a moment. In 2016, these companies alone made tens of millions of deliveries:

• United States Postal Service delivered 759 million packages.
• Amazon delivered 1.6 million packages a day.
• United Parcel Service delivered 28 million packages on Thursday, December 20 alone.
• Fed Ex delivered 19.8 million packages on December 17 alone.

How do we safeguard packages?

The key here is to make it difficult for a thief to take your packages.

• When ordering on-line or from a catalogue, look for a box that asks where you want the delivery service to place your package. Obviously, we would like the package out-of-sight. Baltimore County Police suggest you have the delivery placed on the back porch. If that isn’t a possibility, ask a neighbor to bring in any packages delivered to your home.
• If you are frequently out of town, ask a friend or neighbor if you can use their address as a delivery drop.
• Have packages delivered to your office or workplace.
• Amazon offers a feature called Amazon Locker. Packages can be delivered to specific Amazon location and you can pick them up without worry about theft. Go on-line to find the closest locker near you.

A few simple steps will help get your deliveries into the right hands.