Residents on the East Side of Milwaukee are warning of package thieves, especially for people that live in apartment buildings with open, unlocked lobbies.
Lauren Miller was recently waiting for a package that took longer than she anticipated to be delivered. When she tracked it online, it appeared to have been delivered. She checked her building's lobby and it wasn't there. That's when she checked the recycle dumpster.
"I climbed right in there because I remembered there was a package similar to what I was expecting... sure enough I flipped over the package and there was my name but it was empty," said Miller.
Lauren discovered several other empty packages in the dumpster, many of them from Amazon. She said, "it's tough when there is not room in your mailbox in these apartment buildings to fit a package, so they put it in an unlocked lobby and it's a gamble."
Milwaukee Police say they usually see an increase of these types of thefts during the holidays and haven't noticed a recent uptick in this type of crime. Nevertheless, they offered these tips to keep your packages safe.
- Have package delivered to a neighbor
- Have package delivered to work
- Require the package be signed for
- Install a surveillance camera on your porch
