Porch pirates popping up in parts of the Port City
CAPE FEAR REGION, NC (WWAY) — It feels great to “add to cart” from the comfort of your couch.
But something so popular has the potential to lure in some unwanted guests—porch pirates.
Porch pirates steal packages off your front porch, and it seems to be happening more often to folks in the Cape Fear community.
“I noticed that someone had come on our porch at about two o’clock in the morning and had stolen a bunch of items off of the porch and out of my mailbox,” City of Wilmington Councilman Luke Waddell said.
Residents of Mallory Creek in Brunswick County were issued a “mail theft alert” by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
But it seems the issue extends beyond the Cape Fear River.
City of Wilmington Councilman, Luke Waddell, took to Facebook with his recent porch pirate encounter over the weekend.
Packages stolen from Waddell’s porch contained items for his child’s first birthday party. He said he is thankful his family is safe, but he is still uneasy about the situation that occurred
“It’s certainly unsettling to have something like that happen at your home while your family is sleeping in your home. So, I immediately filed a police report,” Waddell said.
WWAY spoke with Wilmington Police Department about porch pirates.
Lt. Greg Willett said it may be a good time to get to know your neighbors and look out for each other when you’re away from home. Willett even recommended choosing a delivery location that’s not your home.
“You can set up a delivery at other locations. I know Amazon has something like that. It’s not as convenient as having it delivered to your front porch. But that’s one way to do it,” Willett said.
Willett said ultimately, you need to file a police report if you are a victim of a porch pirate. He said it’ll do more than keep you and your packages safe.
“It will help out your neighbors, it will help out your community, it lets us know what’s going on in certain areas by reporting,” Willett said.
Waddell said it took him about 20 minutes to file the police report, something he said was worth the time.
“For reporting purposes, for the police department, but also for elected leaders to be able to see what’s happening in real time in our community and make the right changes to fix it,” Waddell said.
Willett said Wilmington P.D. is continuing to monitor areas reporting porch pirates. He said if your items can’t be returned, it’ll at least aid in their investigation to stop this from happening.
