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SALT LAKE CITY — Buyers beware: whether you shop online or in the stores — police need your help to make it harder for crooks out to ruin your holiday.
The Unified Police Department is in the middle of a two-day operation designed to stop people from stealing mail from doorsteps and packages from cars.
KSL-TV rode along with Unified police as they tried to catch some of those thieves in the act. It's common for people to break into cars this time of year, said Unified police detective Nate Lord.
"It's a profession for sure, because they know what to look for and how to get into cars really fast," he said.
Lord was one of four detectives who staked out a decoy car left unlocked in a Millcreek parking lot Wednesday night with a big ticket item inside in plain view, hoping someone would take the bait.
"We haven't had much time to do it, because we're so busy with everything else we're doing," Lord said.
At other locations around Millcreek and Holladay, detectives watched packages left on front porches with GPS tracking devices inside. It's all part of a joint operation with the Homeland Security officers and U.S. Postal Inspectors.
"We've been able to build a pretty good relationship with them, so they've been really easy to work with and real good about helping out and providing their resources," Lord said.
- ALWAYS lock your car
- Put purchases in your trunk
- Cover them up otherwise
- Send your online orders to offices or P.O. boxes if you can
- Don't let packages sit for very long on your doorstep
Investigators say people can help reduce package thefts by having things shipped to an office, a post office box or other secure location. If that's not an option, they encourage people to take their packages inside as quickly as possible.
The same is true when you're shopping at the store.
"You should be comfortable where ever you live to say, 'You know what, I can leave my packages in my car,'" Lord said. "But that's not the world we live in."
Detectives recommend putting purchases in the trunk, or otherwise covering them up so they aren't in plain sight. They also said to always lock your car.
No one broke in to the decoy car that detectives set up Wednesday night. KSL agreed not to show the car because it's an undercover vehicle, but Lord said the operation still serves an important purpose.
"Not only are we out here to respond to calls that happened in the past, but we want to catch people doing it right now so we can," Lord said. "(We want to) send a message to criminals that this is something that we're doing and we don't want them.
"We don't need them breaking into people's cars. There's honest ways of making money and this isn't it."
