Not a car break in, but a heads up

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I live in a multi family house on Holland between Teele and Davis and came home to find boxes and packing material all over the front porch and to the side of the house. Sometime in the afternoon someone took boxes that had been delivered to the a neighbor in the house and opened them up an stole anything of value. It is pretty bold to walk up to a house, on a major street, go through a gate in the middle of the day and tear open/steal packages.

I'm very used to having the mailperson just drop off boxes without a signature - you forget things like this happen. It worries me when people are so bold.

Comments

[ckd]

There's a similar report over on porter_square, too.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

Bizarre, the last package I got delivered here was a green slanket - I gave it to my dad for X mas but he didn't want it, so I kept it. Now I'm a suspect because i'm a girl who enjoys sleeved blankets!

Thanks for the tip, i'll alert my neighbor about the porter sq post.

[nomirena.livejournal.com]

This happened to me two weeks ago. And I live on Beacon street near Inman and the Foodmaster over there--you can't get a more traveled main street in Somerville I don't think. It was a big box from Crate and Barrel and the person tore it open, took one wine glass (out of 8!), the receipt, and the part of the box with my name and address on it. They did leave 7 wine glasses (one broken), another set of glasses and ice tongs. So weird. I was really creeped out by it.

Somerville is feeling more and more dangerous these days all of a sudden.

neighborhood watch

[ospatu.livejournal.com]

is there already a neighborhood watch program? if not, i'd like to propose one. i think there are enough folks home during the day (who work nights, or freelance, or are stay-at-home parents, etc) to put together a very basic neighborhood watch, especially in these recently theft-prone areas. it could partner with the Somerville PD, as the one in Chinatown works with the Boston PD.

what say you, o cyberfriends and neighbors?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Well this sucks. I routinely have deliveries left rather than chase around with delivery people. Same for cars - I had my window broken out on Highland last year a few spaces up from the cupcake place - just vandalism - there was nothing to take. I try not to park on Highland any more but the package thing is hard to get around.

Re: neighborhood watch

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Yes, sort of. There's a group that meets periodically to exchange info, and some streets have their own mailing lists. There's more info about it a few posts back at:
http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1126753.html

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

OK, just joined porter_square.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Not more dangerous, just people are becoming more watchful.

But for this type of crime, I think being on a well-travelled street works against you.

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Magpie had a package stolen recently too. The mail carrier slid it behind under iron gate that closes off Magpie's "foyer" area. Some nice person came in and told us he found the empty torn open box and returned it to our foyer but then someone apparently stole that too because we never saw it.

We asked our mail carrier not to leave packages outside our door anymore if we're not there. Perhaps if other people here are concerned about this they could ask their mail carrier the same thing.

It's so nice to be able to have your package left for you even if you're not there but not necessarily worth risking it getting stolen. :(

[squonk.livejournal.com]

I keep a box at The UPS Store just outside Davis. It's a bit pricey, but I have packages delivered often enough when I'm not home that it's worth it to me to keep them safe.

Tonka

[el-cubano-15.livejournal.com]

Someone took my little boy's Tonka truck from my driveway recently. That really bothered me.

[flexagon]

Haha, sorry for making you a suspect. :)

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

My solution to this is to have all packaged delivered to my office. Of course your mileage may vary with this method depending on the nature of your workplace.

[electrictruffle.livejournal.com]

Not to add to the creepout level, but given what they took (the receipt and the shipping info) I would be on the lookout for a future scam, eg. something pulled against Crate and Barrel in your name, or full up identity theft.

-ETR

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Maybe a fraudulent return. I wonder if it's possible to return something like that for cash, especially at a brick-and-mortar store.

If it was me I'd call the vendor and ask about "flagging" that receipt in the computer.