TAMPA — The people who investigate home package thefts are getting into the business of helping prevent them by offering to hold your online orders for you.
With the holiday shopping season approaching, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that people can direct shipments to two of the sheriff’s five Patrol Services offices from Nov. 9 through Dec. 21. The locations are the District 3 Office, 7202 Gunn Hwy, and District 5 Office, 10128 Windhorst Road.
Items will be accepted and safeguarded for free until residents can pick them up from a deputy at the front desk.
Package distribution times will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. A government-issued photo identification card and an order tracking number will be required and packages must be less than 50 pounds.
An increase in package deliveries during the holiday season brings an increase in package thefts, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. In 2019, there were 274 reports of package theft in Hillsborough County for more than $76,000 in losses to the victims.
Five hours after the Sheriff’s Office announced the new service, it reported in a news release that a 31-year-old woman had been arrested Monday afternoon in connection with a package theft from a Riverview home caught on camera. The woman left on foot and changed her shirt to avoid detection, but was soon arrested. The package was recovered and returned.
The new service from the Sheriff’s Office, dubbed “Operation Pinch-A-Grinch,” comes on the heels of steps taken by shippers to help reduce package thefts from homes.
Amazon offers an app called Key through which homeowners get an alert when an Amazon package is being delivered so they can remotely open their garage door and close it after the delivery is made.
UPS and FedEx allow customers to have packages delivered to their local offices for pickup. UPS has 38 locations in Hillsborough County, according to postlocations.com, and most are open by 8:30 a.m. FedEx packages can also be delivered to select Walgreens, Dollar General and grocery store locations.
Packages will be held for up to five business days, according to the shippers' websites.
The U.S. Postal Service offers hold-for-pickup service, but only for Priority Express mail.
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