8
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, AUGUST 25, 2019
Package thieves
running rampant
in Sheepshead Bay
A package thief seen swiping a package off an Avenue P and East 34th Street home. Mollie Briskman
BY CHANDLER KIDD
Sheepshead Bay and surrounding
areas are being
preyed on by unscrupulous
package thieves, who brazenly
pilfer front porches
in daring daylight raids, locals
claim.
“It is a dangerous situation
because you don’t
know what they are carrying
or what is in the package,”
said Dave Weiner, a
longtime Sheepshead Bay
resident and real estate
agent.
Weiner joined other
Bay residents at an Aug.
13 community meeting to
vent his frustration over
numerous package thefts
he’s witnessed to offi cers
with the 61st Police Precinct
— which covers Gravesend,
Sheepshead Bay,
and Manhattan Beach —
saying he often sees people
scurrying off with packages
left for residents of
Bedford Avenue, a charming,
well-to-do street he
frequents for his work in
real estate.
“It struck me — why was
someone retrieving several
packages after 10 p.m. and
walking away from the
home instead of bringing
them into the home... It did
not register to me until I
started hearing all the complaints
from neighbors, and
online as well that it must
have been a theft of packages,”
said Weiner.
The real estate agent
said the block where he
lives on Batchelder Street
between avenues V and U
is not immune to package
thievery either, and Weiner
claims the sticky-fi ngered
mailmen have tried to nab
his parcels in the past.
They tried to take the
packages that were inside
my shed, but thank god
I had it chained up,” he
claimed.
Package thievery is not
a new phenomena, nor is
it relegated to Sheepshead
Bay, according to Jim Cafi -
ero, a security expert with
High Tech Security, who
suggested that people are
probably more aware of
the thefts due to the proliferation
of relatively cheap
doorbell cameras catching
the parcel perps in the act.
These “porch pirates,”
as Cafi ero calls them, follow
delivery trucks and
wait for the package to
be placed on the porch or
stoop, before then nabbing
them in brazen, daylight
heists, he said.
Many victims don’t go
to the trouble of reporting
the crime to police, fearing
reprisal from the thieves,
or simply not willing to
endure the hassle when
many companies will
cover the cost of the stolen
item, Cafi ero said.
“It’s gotten to the point
where my customers don’t
even tell me about it anymore,”
Cafi ero said.
And when package
thieves are busted, the legal
consequences are often
light. A notorious Dyker
Heights package thief has
preyed on her neighborhood
for nearly two decades
, despite numerous
arrests that have never
added up to more than a few
months in prison.
Police Offi cers Sawh and
Marcillo, who discussed the
problem with locals at the
Aug. 13 meeting, said they
have managed to cuff porch
pirates in the past with
help from local community
members, and encouraged
the audience to always call
police when they witness a
crime.