by Anthony Hennen
Many residents know the common headache of so-called porch pirates as mail theft ramps up in tandem with the pandemic-driven online shopping boom.
In the Senate, Republicans see an obvious solution: increase penalties for those caught stealing packages delivered to residences.
Senate Bill 527, which would add specific penalties for mail theft, had its first consideration in the upper chamber on Tuesday.
“The grading of this offense would increase if the person has prior convictions for theft of mail,” Sen. Frank Farry, R-Langhorne, wrote in a legislative memo.
Porch piracy would become a third-degree felony if the theft is a third offense, or if the value of the stolen mail was at least $1,000.
The bill is similar to legislation proposed in the House in 2021, as The Center Square previously reported.
“The financial toll can hurt many everyday Pennsylvanians but there is also the emotional distress of having your personal property violated by these pirates,” Farry (pictured above) wrote. “These issues continue to get worse since 2020 with the major increases and new accessibility to online/remote shopping.”
Pennsylvania would join a trend that’s unfolded across more than a dozen states in recent years, though opponents say the legislation is an overreaction to a problem.
Passing the legislation, however, could make package theft look like more of a problem, as a law would create “a mechanism to keep track of it,” as Ben Stickle of Middle Tennessee State University told Georgia Public Broadcasting after the state passed a similar law in 2021.
An estimated 260 million packages were stolen in America in 2022, up from 210 million in 2021. Some police departments, such as the Washington County, Oregon Sheriff’s Office, have used “bait package” programs to catch porch pirates and argued it led to a 20% reduction in package thefts.
In Oklahoma, one criminal was convicted of 17 counts of porch piracy in April.
In Philadelphia, official mail theft complaints spiked by 10% from 2020 to 2022 and private mailbox rentals have seen a surge in business.
“We must give constant attention to making sure that emerging forms of criminal activity can be prosecuted and penalized. With the growth in online shopping, the crime of porch pirating has quickly spread,” Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Dallas, said in a press release.
Though the problem is real, new laws might not stop porch piracy.
“Despite these new laws and initiatives by state legislatures, there is little evidence that these laws cause their desired deterrent effect,” Drew McKay, a law student at the University of Houston, argued in a legal article. “Porch piracy could be more effectively combatted if the law facilitated more private sector action rather than relying exclusively on public prosecutions. The private sector has stronger incentives and better resources to tackle a problem of its own doing.”
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Anthony Hennen is a reporter for The Center Square. Previously, he worked for Philadelphia Weekly and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. He is managing editor of Expatalachians, a journalism project focused on the Appalachian region.
Photo “Frank Farry” by Frank Farry for State Senate. Background Photo “Pennsylvania State Capitol” by BorgQueen. CC BY-SA 2.5.
