package theft

From the Forum – Packages stolen off porch

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user District Shots

Packages stolen off porch:

“We had several packages stolen off our front porch yesterday (5th and Gallatin NW). Mid-afternoon a man in a bright blue jacket, hat and messenger bag walked up to the house, knocked on the door (presumably to make sure no one was home), and grabbed our stuff. We have security cameras and were able to provide the footage to the police, but be forewarned that this may be a common occurrence in the neighborhood, especially with the holidays coming up.

The police let us know this happens quite often where the thief will grab the packages, then find an alley to open them and transfer the contents to their bag so as not to look suspicious walking down the street with boxes. Think about requesting a signature for future deliveries to your homes.”

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Package Thief Arrested in Woodridge

By Prince Of Petworth

From MPD:

“In response to community concerns, members of the Fifth District Vice Unit conducted an operation on today’s date [Friday] to identify and apprehend persons involved in the theft of mail packages in PSAs 504 and 503. The operation was a success. Officers observed an individual in possession of a stolen package and effected an arrest. The theft occurred in the 2100 block of Kearny Street, Northeast. The stolen package and its contents were documented and returned to the rightful owner.

Please help us in our fight against mail package theft by reviewing the following tips. (more…)

Props to the Cops – “the person arrested has been linked to numerous package thefts throughout the Fifth District dating back to January”

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

From MPD:

“On October 23, 2014, members of the Fifth District Vice Unit conducted an operation to identify and apprehend persons involved in the theft of mail packages in PSA 501. During the operation, members observed an individual in possession of a stolen package and effected an arrest. The theft occurred in the unit block of Rhode Island Avenue, Northwest. The stolen package and its contents were documented and returned to the rightful owner.

With the help of the Fifth District Detectives Unit and the US Postal Inspection Service, the person arrested has been linked to numerous package thefts throughout the Fifth District dating back to January 2014.

The individual was also in possession of Halloween Costume which may have been taken from a package in an unreported theft. If anyone has knowledge of a missing mail package containing a Halloween Costume, please contact me at the email address or phone numbers listed below.

Thank you,

Lieutenant Ramey Kyle
Fifth District
VICE, Street Crimes, Warrant Squad
1805 Bladensburg Road, Northeast
Washington, D.C. 20002
202-698-0150 station
202-384-7577 cell
ramey.kyle(at)dc.gov”

Props to the Cops – Package Theft Arrests

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

From MPD:

“Good afternoon, today, Third District members working in a covert capacity were able to apprehend and arrest two suspects for stealing packages at two different locations. In the first incident, officers observed a suspect in the vicinity of the 1200 block of S Street, N.W. This suspect was riding a bicycle and carrying a box believed to be stolen. An investigation revealed that the recovered items were, in fact, stolen and the suspect was arrested and the property recovered.

In the second instance, a suspect was observed in the vicinity of the 1600 block of Florida Avenue, N.W. carrying two large packages believed to be stolen. When approached by officers, the suspect admitted to stealing the packages and was placed under arrest.

In both of these incidents, officers were addressing increased reports of package thefts and they were knowledgeable of theft patterns and suspect descriptions previously provided by citizens. As always, the MPD appreciates the community’s support and we ask that you remain vigilant. Thank you.”

Shaw Listserv: “Package stolen on 5th St, confronted thief”

By Prince Of Petworth

From the Shaw Listserv:

“This past Friday, while circling the block to find parking, noticed a package in our door. After parking while walking the 50ft from our parked car on the 500 block of R St. to our house, my wife and I passed a young African American male walking a bike with a brown mail package in one hand walking westward on R St. I didn’t think much of it – its important to me not to unfairly profile people. I got to our door and saw our package was gone – removed in the last 60 seconds since we’d seen it from out car.

I turned around and ran down R St. to 6th to look for the kid who I’d just saw and spotted him on the the other side of Rhode Island walking north on 6th St. I saw the package in his hand, but the brown wrapping was removed and it was a white shirt-like box. I was in front of the Chinese food place on 6th, looked to my left to the garbage bin, looked in it – and saw the brown wrapping addressed to me. Enraged, I ran across traffic on Rhode Island, coming up behind the man/kid picked him up and threw him on the ground, screaming at him like a maniac. He said he was sorry several times at which point I released him, grabbed my mother-in-law’s birthday gift for my wife and stormed back across Rhode Island. At my wife’s urging, I did report it to the police – who said I should’ve probably called before I confronted him. I should’ve stayed and called the police and taken a picture, but I wasn’t in that state of mind at the time. We couldn’t find him. He took down my information. The police said these kids usually come from a different area of town – so they aren’t recognized. This kid/man seemed about 18, red t-shirt, black do-rag on head, athletic shorts, walking a black bike.

I was surprised at how angry I was – but it enraged me to feel violated in front of my face, in my home. And its important to me not to negatively profile every young African American kid in the neighborhood who looks like they might live in public housing because – like all of us – most are not behaving this way. But it pissed me of to have this happen.”

Reader Reports UPS stopped leaving packages in parts of Columbia Heights due to Thefts

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr.TinDC

“Dear PoPville,

I’m living in Columbia Heights and I suddenly stopped getting packages delivered from UPS. No notes are being left, but online it says they attempted delivery, and when I put delivery instructions to leave it at the door they are ignored. After my fifth call to them, I was told that they recently changed their policies in our area because of too many stolen package claims and they no longer will leave packages, even if you sign for them to be left or put in instructions online.

They also will not deliver to a local store unless you are a My Choice member and pay a fee. There must be plenty of Amazon Prime members in this area, I’m wondering if they are experiencing the same problem? Fedex still leaves packages and we have never had a package go missing, but they claim it’s a neighborhood-wide policy change. Thought getting the word out to the neighborhood might be helpful to deal with UPS to get them to change this new policy, but would also like to hear if others are actually getting packages delivered.”

Anyone else experiencing this in Columbia Heights? Other neighborhoods?

UPDATE from twitter:

“@UPSHelp

@jmstovall We still deliver packages to that area. It’s the drivers discretion to leave the package without a signature.”

UPDATE from OP:

“Re: the Twitter response from UPS: On the phone with UPS, I was told that drivers delivering in the Columbia Heights area no longer had the discretion to leave packages and that they have all been instructed not to leave packages, under any circumstances. We put instructions to leave at the door on My Choice and we signed the note the one time they left one. The day we signed the note, we came home to find it still stuck on the door and when we checked online it said there had been a failed delivery attempt that day. We have also had one failed delivery attempt occur when we were home. It’s entirely possible the information I was given by UPS is incorrect, but even if so, something very odd is going on with their service, just not clear what exactly it is.

Also, I asked about getting my delivery rerouted to the store for free as a result of the inconvenience and the lack of transparency about this policy change in our area and they refused. They suggested that I could instead pick up my package for free from nearby Landover, MD.”

Columbia Heights Package Thief Caught?

By Prince Of Petworth

In March we learned of a rash of stolen packages in Columbia Heights. From the CH Listserv it seems the suspect may have been caught do to the work of a good Samaritan:

“Package thiefs have been arrested. At 3pm today I saw the same woman and a guy forcefully open front door of our building and pick up two packages from foyer

I called 911 and followed them for 45 minutes to corner of 16th and Florida where cops finally stopped them. Thiefs took items out of boxes in alley by 1101 then zig zagged many blocks before they realized I was STILL following them. There, they removed some more items before eventually being arrested.

They are being charged with breaking in and entering, mail theft, etc. I will be called to court to act as a witness. Officer stated that thiefs most likely will also receive stay away order for this neighborhood.

By the way, during my pursuit I had to call 911 twice as I did not see ONE police officer from 1101 all the way to 16th and Florida due to fewer police on duty becuase of Emancipation Day(holiday).”

Nicely done. And if you want a good laugh here is the story related to the photo above.

Rash of Stolen Packages in Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

On the Columbia Heights Listserv I’ve received a number of notices of packages being stolen. Below is a sampling:

“Fed Ex envelope taken from my mailbox with valuable content.” (1300 block of Monroe)

“I also had a package stolen from 700 block of Harvard … gotta get signature delivery/do not drop instructions for everything now I guess.”

From the 1300 block of Euclid (the following has been slightly edited):

“A middle-aged woman in a blue knit cap came up the walk with a box of pills in her hand and walked to the buzzer confidently. She dialed a number on the intercom, let it ring, and stood out of line of the camera. We then asked her if she knew someone in the building or if she was dialing someone in particular. She told us she was here to deliver pills (in a MTWThFSSu box) to Mr. Baker. We told her that there was no Mr. Baker in the building, and that she may be looking for someone else in another building next door or two doors down. She talked to us, not leaving the front stoop.

We explained that we had had packages stolen from the building, and that she fit the description of the person who was seen stealing packages in the neighborhood, and that if she didn’t leave the area we would call the police. At that point, she walked down the steps to the building next door (east), but kept going (east) to the next building as the street was busy.

We tried to snap a picture as she left and we have a picture of her back, but not of her face, and it is not very clear.

This is a reminder to keep an eye out for her, and to request that couriers deliver directly to your door and out of sight, rather than leave them at the table in the lobby.”

If you don’t have a lobby, what do you guys do when packages get delivered? A friend of mine always has them delivered to work.

Thief in the Night (Literally)

By Prince Of Petworth

Following is a phenomenal email I received:

Hi PoP,

I have a funny story to share. I live in a row house in northern Columbia Heights. Today as I was coming home, I noticed a package on my doorstep, the usual place for UPS or the mail delivery people to leave packages. It was a standard 10″ x 14″ padded manila envelope, the kind with a red pull tab for ease of opening. When I picked it up, I noticed that the tab had already been pulled & the package was wide open. Upon further inspection, it was a pair of books I had ordered, entitled “Thief in the Night.” The package was correctly addressed to my name and street address. Someone had opened my mail! I can just picture a would-be thief opening the package, seeing the book title, thinking it was a sign from God, returning the package to my doorstep, and proceeding directly to the nearest confessional, swearing to never steal again!

–Gurlnexdore in CH