The holidays are back, and so are the package thieves
December is the time of year when online shopping skyrockets, with people both eager to avoid crowded malls and take advantage of website discounts. That ties into something else that shoots up during the month: package theft.
Last December there were 436 reports of package theft in the city of Los Angeles, with thieves snatching boxes left by Amazon, UPS and other delivery drivers. The average in the previous 11 months of the year was 295 thefts according to publicly available Los Angeles Police Department data. (Figures are likely an undercount, as some lower-value losses may not be reported to police.)
That’s not an anomaly. December 2022 produced 435 package-theft reports. The average from January–November that year was 277 thefts.
The peak was the 489 reports in December 2020.
This is a nationwide problem. The website Security.org, which reviews security products, found in a recent study that 58 million Americans were victimized by package theft over a one-year period, resulting in the loss of goods valued at $12 billion.
The study also found that the highest rates of package theft occurred in largely rural states, topped by Kentucky, where 12% of those surveyed had a package stolen in a recent three-month period. Next on the list was North Dakota, with an 11% rate.
The rate in California was 6%, according to the study.
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A lower rate of theft does not lessen the impact for victims. KTLA recently reported on a Glendale man who had three laptops stolen by package thieves, including two times when imposters approached a delivery truck before the computer could be brought to the man’s front door.
Package theft counts in Los Angeles began soaring in the pandemic year of 2020, when people ramped up their online purchasing. Last year there were a record 3,677 thefts in the city, according to police data.
Hitting apartment buildings
Package theft often brings to mind the “porch pirates” who steal gifts from the front entrance of single-family homes. But according to the Security.org study, the rate of theft for apartment dwellers is twice as high.
That appears to be borne out in Los Angeles, where, according to police data, the most victimized neighborhoods for package theft are communities with large numbers of multi-unit buildings.
In the period from Jan. 1, 2023–Oct. 31, 2024, there were 355 reports of package theft in densely populated Koreatown, more than any other neighborhood in the city. That was followed by Downtown (276 thefts) and Westlake (274).
Experts offer a bevy of tips to combat package theft. The LAPD’s Pacific Division last week ran down some of them on Facebook, including having items delivered to a safe location such as a workplace, a friend’s home or a locker; signing up with an online seller for delivery alerts; and banding together with neighbors to watch out for each other and bring deliveries inside.
The division also cautioned against having items left in an apartment lobby, warning that, “Criminals easily access mailrooms and lobbies by stealing or cloning key fobs,” or they learn building access codes or otherwise gain entry.
How we did it: We examined publicly available crime data from the Los Angeles Police Department from Jan. 1, 2016–Oct. 31, 2024. LAPD data only reflects crimes that are reported to the department, not how many crimes actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data the LAPD makes publicly available. LAPD may update past crime reports with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.
Have questions about our data or want to know more? Write to us at askus@xtown.la.
