Pass the ‘Porch Pirates Act’ to crack down on – Latest News
New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer is out to save the vacation season — by boosting penalties for bundle pilferers.
On Monday, Gottheimer (D) launched the “Porch Pirates Act,” aiming to slap thieves who filch bins shipped by personal corporations with the identical federal prices as those that molest US Postal Service deliveries — and increase jail time for offenders.
It’s a no-brainer invoice: As online purchasing has boomed — and delivery by corporations like Amazon, UPS and FedEx — so too has box-snatching from stoops, porches, patios and doorsteps.
Amazon alone is on observe to ship more bins than the USPS by 2028.
Expanding federal parcel protections to embrace personal corporations is pure sense.
At least 45% of Americans have misplaced a bundle to “porch piracy,” a sticky-fingered fiend at one level or one other, and the scourge spikes during the vacation season.
And it’s more and more organized crime.
Last month, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office charged 14 people for an alleged two-year-long scheme that mixed hacking with fast “piracy” and resale of dear electronics.
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And New York City took the title for worst in the nation, with $945 million in bundle theft losses in 2024 — more than double runner-up Philly’s $450 million.
Don’t anticipate the metropolis’s lefty lawmakers or soft-on-crime district attorneys to do a lot; the state is solely now simply responding (and barely) — to years of rampant and arranged shoplifting throughout the 5 boroughs.
But Gottheimer’s invoice could make bundle theft a federal challenge.
Bring the hammer down on Grinches who attempt to steal goodies on Christmas — and the different 364 days of the yr.
