Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, D-Queens Village, introduced A.8473 to establish the crime of package theft in the fourth, third, second and first degrees. The bills would make it a class A misdemeanor to take another’s package valued over $1, a class E felony to take another’s package where it is valued over $25 or two or more packages are taken, a class D felony to take another’s package where the package contains medicine, a medical device(s) or medical device parts and a class B felony to take another’s package where the package has markings, words, or symbols indicating that the package contains medicine, a medical device(s) or medical device parts, and a person suffers a serious adverse health condition.

“With the rise of online shopping has come a new, insidious form of theft – package theft. “Porch pirates” as they are often called, generally enter a person’s property and steal their packages or steal directly from the delivery trucks themselves,” Vanel wrote in his legislative justification. “This theft is particularly troubling during the holidays, as many New Yorker’s save up throughout the year to buy gifts through e-commerce and are left with nothing to show for it – and oftentimes with no recourse. Even worse, because package thieves move so quickly, they don’t generally look to see what is inside of the package before they take it. As a result, there have been numerous instances of live-saving medicine and medical devices being stolen.”

Most police departments don’t track package theft in its own category, which means there’s a lack of national data. But, according to the Associated Press, some police departments have started to segregate reports of package theft into their own category. In Denver, Colorado, for example, there’s been more than 1,260 reported incidents of package thefts this year, up from roughly 750 four years ago. And, a product research company called The Chamber of Commerce said it surveyed 1,250 U.S. consumers in October and found that 26% of them have been victims of package theft. The problem was roughly split between urban and suburban areas, it said, and only 18% of consumers who’ve had packages stolen reported it to police. Another report, which used a variety of sources and was compiled by the bank Capitol One, showed 14% of Americans were victims of porch piracy last year. It said those thefts amounted to $29.2 billion in losses.

Stealing packages delivered by the U.S. Postal Service is already a federal crime. Punishment for taking parcels delivered by private carriers, like UPS or Amazon, falls under state laws. A bill to expand federal penalties to packages delivered by private carriers was introduced in Congress last year by U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota. That legislation has stalled. Texas, New Jersey and Michigan have imposed their own tougher penalties on porch piracy. Vanel wants New York to join them.

Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, D-Queens Village, speaks during a policy forum that discussed what actions are needed to close the opportunity gap for tech careers in New York and bolster tech education and training infrastructure in Queens. AP photo

“Strengthening laws against package thievery will act a deterrent for would-be porch pirates and also act as a tool for prosecutors by empowering them to seek greater penalties against these bad actors,” Vanel wrote.