Crime & Safety

Don't Let Packages Sit on Your Doorstep ... Thieves on the Loose

People are swiping boxes off front porches, according to Novato police.

Are you waiting for some last-minute gifts to arrive from your online shopping spree? suggest you check your front doorstep often to prevent what happened to at least residents over the past few days.

At 3:50 p.m. Wednesday, a man inside his home watched another man pull into his driveway in an older black Ford Mustang and steal a package off his doorstep, Novato police Lt. Keith Heiden said. The homeowner didn’t know he had a package on the porch until he saw the thief walking back to his car with the box, which had been delivered by UPS.

Heiden said somebody found the package nearby on Country Club Lane and returned it unopened and intact. Others aren’t so lucky.

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A homeowner on Taft Court reported the theft of a package off her front porch on Dec. 19, according to a police report. While away from home, she tracked the package through UPS and found that it had been delivered at 3:15 p.m. that day. She arrived home at 6 p.m. and saw that the package, containing stereo equipment, was not there.

“All you can do is check yourself and ask your neighbors to watch out for each other,” Heiden said. “Just call the police if you see something suspicious. Sometimes these kinds of thefts are covered by a credit card or delivery company, but sometimes they aren’t. Honestly I’m surprised we don’t have more of these thefts at this time of year.”

Find out what's happening in Novatowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To report suspicious activity, call 911.


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