Earlier this year, the Arkansas State Legislature increased the punishment for thieves who steal packages from people's homes from a misdemeanor to a Class D felony. In the past, this was considered misdemeanor theft but due to the drastic increases in these types of crimes, porch pirate thieves will now be charged with a felony. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported in their November 29th edition that it is estimated that 1.7 million packages are stolen each day in the United States. With more and more people receiving packages delivered by delivery companies and the Post Office, these types of crime will only increase especially since many of these packages can contain expensive electronic items.

 

There are measures you can take in help preventing this. You can give instructions when you purchase an item to have the delivery driver place the package in an out-of-sight place or have it delivered to your work. You can follow the tracking of a package online and try to pick it up promptly when it arrives or have friends or family promptly pick-up your package. There are also inexpensive security cameras such as the Ring doorbell cameras or you can purchase a security camera system.