{"id":89255,"date":"2025-12-16T00:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/89255\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T00:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:12:08","slug":"package-thefts-in-texas-among-worst-in-the-country-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/89255\/","title":{"rendered":"Package thefts in Texas among worst in the country, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fb521f4w3wlapwc9.jpg\" alt=\"Holiday package thefts in Texas\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/video\/1756851\" data-v-4292be72=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Holiday package thefts in Texas<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-4292be72=\"\">Package theft is finally showing signs of slowing down nationwide, but in Texas, the impact is still among the worst in the country.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Package theft is finally showing signs of slowing down nationwide, but in Texas, the impact is still among the worst in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">A new report showed thieves are stealing millions of dollars\u2019 worth of deliveries straight off doorsteps.<\/p>\n<p> Package thefts in Texas  <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTBC\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-3646484b=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">Criminal justice professor and former police officer Dr. Ben Stickle said something in 2025 changed. For the first time in years, porch piracy is down.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">&#8220;This year there does seem to be about a 13% decline. However, that still means about 104 million packages were stolen, about 250,000 every day,&#8221; Dr. Stickle said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">A new SafeWise report said the average thief walks away with about $143 worth per package. In Texas, it is hitting harder than most. SafeWise ranks Texas third for financial losses.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">Dr. Stickle said the holiday season ramps things up even more because there are more packages, higher-priced items, and fewer daylight hours.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">&#8220;That&#8217;s just simply because the volume has increased, the value of what you&#8217;re purchasing is probably increasing as well. You may not even miss the fact that you had a package stolen for a day or two with all the packages you&#8217;re getting,&#8221; Dr. Stickle said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">Dr. Stickle said this crime, like most crimes of opportunity, can be stopped before it starts.<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">&#8220;The best thing that a consumer can do is to have a package delivered if you can schedule it when you&#8217;re home or ensure that you will be home. And as soon as you get the notification, go outside and get your package off your front porch,&#8221; Dr. Stickle said. &#8220;If that&#8217;s not possible, then we encourage you to have it delivered to a trusted neighbor or a family member. If your work allows it, that&#8217;s an option as well. You can also have packages delivered to a partial locker system, to a store or a pickup point or something like that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-3646484b=\"\">Stealing a package in Texas is a felony with a penalty of 6 months to 10 years in jail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin&#8217;s Meredith Aldis<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/series\/crimewatch\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-3646484b=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CrimeWatch<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-3646484b=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/us\/tx\/travis-county\/austin\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-3646484b=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Austin<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Holiday package thefts in Texas Package theft is finally showing signs of slowing down nationwide, but in Texas,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1046,20826,223,1726,394,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-89255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-crime-publicsafety","12":"tag-crimewatch","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-series","15":"tag-travis-county","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}