As more and more people turn to the sites like Amazon for not just their Christmas shopping, but deliveries of daily essentials, so too does the proliferation of so-called porch pirates — people who steal packages from front doorsteps and yards before owners have a chance to collect them.
It’s a universally reviled practice, and, in Edmonton, one of those would-be thieves got a taste of their own medicine Tuesday morning — though completely by accident.
“I didn’t plan for revenge, but you know, it’s just kind of funny,” said William Tigor, who lives in southwest Edmonton’s Blue Quill neighbourhood.
Tigor was surprised to wake up and see, via his doorbell camera, a porch pirate taking a package at 5 a.m., when there shouldn’t have even been anything there to steal.
Little did the thief know what they took wasn’t anything of value. Instead, it was a bag of used diapers Tigor’s wife had thrown out on the front porch and forgotten about.
“She was planning to take it out to the garbage but she didn’t have time,” he said.
“She doesn’t wanna leave a bag of dirty diapers inside the house so she just put it outside the front door.”
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The thief realized the smelly surprise before he took off.
“He literally picked it up from the front door, noticed it was dirty diapers and ended up throwing it on the lawn,” Tigor said.
It was a familiar neighbourhood porch pirate too.
“I think it’s the same guy that stole my gardening tools.”
Porch piracy is up 47 per cent in Edmonton, police said. This September saw 61 thefts, compared to 46 in 2023, and in October 114 cases of porch theft were reported, compared to 73 the year before.
Those are just the numbers reported to the Edmonton Police Service — not all victims bother to report petty thefts. The stats for November and December are not yet available.
“It’s like their job, they’re out there stealing packages and unfortunately they leave behind a lot of victims that won’t be able to get their presents for Christmas,” said Darren Derko, EPS deputy chief of community policing bureau.
An Amazon box on a porch in Edmonton, Alta. on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
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With an increase in deliveries this week before Christmas, thefts are bound to go up, Derko said.
“The suspects will follow people around or follow the Amazon truck around and pick up these packages.”
At this time of year, police say consumers need to use extra precautions, such as tracking their packages.
“Try to get them delivered to your place of work if you can, to the neighbours, have somebody home. If you have a security camera, make sure that it’s capturing the package is getting delivered,” Derko said.
As much as the family enjoyed teaching their porch pirate a lesson — if unintended — Tigor doesn’t think the dirty deed on the doorstep will deter too many.
“I think he’ll still come back. People are not going to change.”
— With files from Lisa MacGregor, Global News