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The Mountain View Police Department is asking that residents be on alert for “Holiday Grinches” on the prowl.
“It’s that time again,” a recent post on the MVPD’s blog reads. “There are people running round Mountain View trying to ruing the holidays by stealing your packages.”
The blog post warned that people steal packages during the day, not just at night; thieves often trail delivery vehicles, waiting until the moment is opportune; they sometimes work in pairs, with one driving and another snatching packages; and, finally that “it doesn’t matter where you live,” because thieves like these “know no boundaries.”
The department advises that residents ordering items online or having items delivered by mail should require a signature upon delivery, sign up for online tracking of packages, and consider having packages delivered to a trusted neighbor or to the workplace, if they know they won’t be home to accept packages.
The post also explained what to do if a package is stolen. “It never hurts to report stolen packages,” the post read — to the police and to the organization that shipped the package.
If ordering from Amazon, consider using the Amazon Locker.
Or you can package up all of your dog or cat droppings in a nice brown paper wrapped box and leave it out on a street corner.
Happy Holidays, Jerks!
The appropriate police response would be to give up their California stop sting operations and be a little more pro-active in their ‘crime fighting’. But I guess there’s no money in that.
“It never hurts to report stolen packages”… at least that doesn’t imply it would actually help.
Steve, last I heard more people in MV have died or been injured because of auto accidents than package thefts. Prioritization.
Doubtful that anyone has ever been killed or injured from someone rolling a stop sign at <1 MPH. Over the last several years, the MVPD has demonstrated their top priority to be raising revenue. We all have our priorities, pity their’s is not serving the needs of Mtn View’s citizens.
I caught one of these thieves in the act. They follow delivery trucks in a white van. A woman rings your doorbell within 30 seconds of the drop off to check if anyone is home (to prevent being seen). Luckily I was at the door. Caught her by surprise and she started mumbling about how she was a vacuum salesperson (with no vacuum in hand) and she pointed out that I had a package before scurrying off. Dude driving the van sped off before she was able to close the door, presumably to catch up with the truck.
This is why I have most of my packages sent to work on days that coincide with Y. Thanks, mail room workers for making my life easier!
YEAH……this is old school antics, be smart! I got a really good deal on a PS3 (95 bucks!) and it was to be delivered on the day of my daughters party (in san francisco) and I got really nervous someone would take it. got home at like 10pm and it was on my patio, i think a signature should always be required imo.
yep amazon locker. Not everyone uses amazon- yadda yadda. But it sure is convenient. Plenty of locations in Mt View.
Hi R — Thank you for letting us know! Unfortunately, we don’t always check these messages, so please help your community — and us — out by reporting these straightaway:
“See something, say something.” Report any suspicious activity right away by calling our non-emergency number at 650-903-6395.
If you have the ability to take a photo or quick video, this will also help us to better identify possible suspects. You can send these to us at police@mountainview.goe and reference your case number if you have one.
Write down descriptions of suspicious individuals and/or vehicles, like clothing, vehicle make and model, as well as license plate.
You can send us an anonymous text at 274637. Be sure to include “mvtips” in the body of your message.