In the era of online shopping, you don’t have to go far to find an unattended package on a doorstep.
Thieves have been known to nab these kind of deliveries, but police say a new case, of not only a stolen package, but also a break and enter, is highly unusual.
On July 3, Norm Keeler returned to his Tuxedo home in northeast Calgary to find his back door busted wide open. His home had been ransacked.
He checked his surveillance video to find a man in sunglasses and a blue hoodie arriving just after 11 a.m., hours after an Amazon package had been delivered to his doorstep.
He watched as the man “came to the front door, looked in the front window, obviously focusing on the Amazon package on the front step,” Keeler said.
“Once it was clear there wasn’t anyone there, he went in the backyard and pried open the back door and helped himself.”
Keeler said the thief took thousands of dollars worth of items from inside the home, including electronics, a computer, even beer from the fridge.
It’s believed he was inside the home for over 30 minutes.
So how do you avoid becoming the next victim?
Police suggest having packaged deliveries sent to your work instead of your home if you know the parcel will arrive during the day or having a neighbour watch for and collect the package once it arrives.
While the Amazon package on Keeler’s doorstep was actually ordered by a downstairs tenant, Keeler said: “I will not order anything anymore that they drop on the front step.
“I firmly believe that this guy probably started stealing packages and then he realize that, ‘Well, there’s probably no one home while I’m doing this, so why not go in?'”
Calgary police are investigating Keeler’s break and enter but have yet to track down any suspects.