Calgary police stress patience for ‘porch pirate’ victims, say crimes trend around Valentine’s Day

Calgary police are recommending patience for victims who have had packages taken from their front steps after a couple recent high-profile incidents in Calgary — and warn the so-called ‘porch pirate’ crimes typically trend up around key dates like Valentine’s Day.

Last week, a northwest Calgary resident caught some porch pirates red-handed and was able to get her package back from the would-be thieves with the entire incident being captured on a doorbell camera.

Danielle MacPherson provided police with the video evidence as well as the license plate of the getaway vehicle.

This past weekend another Calgarian submitted video evidence to CPS of a separate porch pirate incident in the city’s northeast. Both cases remain under investigation.

“Ya, many emotions…definitely frustration,” says MacPherson. “It’s happening a lot more often now, you know, people getting their packages getting stolen off their doorsteps.”

While the victims are hoping for quick police action, investigators are stressing patience.

“If we recognize the people straight away, we can go arrest them and move forward,” says Sgt. Nick Wilsher with the CPS Crime Prevention Unit. “But, when we come to that issue when we don’t know who the individual is, that’s when we have to start that process of the investigation.”

Wilsher couldn’t comment on specifics of the recent cases, but says the incident are considered theft and are being looked into. He says these types of crimes do not denote a lower priority of investigation.

“We are at the moment looking at different ways to combat this,” he says. “That’s why we do put out information, cause part of the way to combat is to not only inform the public that order these parcels, but work with those that are delivering parcels.”

Key days on the calender like Christmas and Valentine’s Day see the frequency of porch pirate crime increase, according to Wilsher.

Police advise anyone who sees a porch pirate crime taking place to avoid confrontation and take down any possible identifying information.