JACKSON, Wis. — It's holiday shopping season, which for the Jackson Police Department means amping up protections against porch pirates.
Watch: Jackson PD offers free package drop-off for the holidays to prevent porch piracy
In December, Jackson community members worried about their online orders getting stolen from their property can have them delivered to the police station for free. A donation to the Washington County Humane Society is strongly recommended.
Detective Jennifer Gerke brought the idea to her team two years ago. Now she said more people are taking advantage of it because once the packages are stolen, it's hard to find the culprits.
"It really only takes a split second to get out of a car, run, grab one, get back in, and take off," she said. "A lot of times these are people that aren't from the Jackson community, so it's not like we're necessarily going to recognize them by face, so it takes a lot of investigation to figure out who it is."
People who partake in the free program will get notified when their gifts or packages are delivered, then they should go pick them up at the station, give the front desk office their name, and they'll bring it out to the resident. Make sure to include the name of the resident as the purchaser, but then use Jackson PD's address for the delivery address: N168W19851 Main St., Jackson, WI 53037.
Detective Gerke said it's not just to keep porch pirates at bay — it's also to help make deliveries more accurate.
"It's hard with our addresses," she said. "We have the north west coordinate, so it's not as super easy as 123 Main Street, when you're looking at N168W19851 Main Street."
Whether gifts ordered online are big or small, Gerke said, preventing porch theft is better than tracking thieves down after the fact.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
