A New Westminster man is hoping his bad experience will be a warning for fellow residents.
When Brow of the Hill resident Allan Greenwood’s package didn’t arrive when it was scheduled to, on Sept. 29, he didn’t think much of it. Maybe it had been delayed, he thought, and he went on waiting. But when a week passed and the package was still MIA, he went online to track it and was surprised to learn it had been delivered on time.
But where was the package?
Greenwood checked the security footage from the camera posted on his front door and what he saw was quite a shock.
The footage revealed that the package did arrive on the day it was supposed to, but before he got home, it was taken from his front porch by an unknown woman.
“I saw this lady walk up the street and look around and then help herself to the package by my front door,” Greenwood said, adding this is the first time someone has taken a package from his porch.
He promptly called the police and reported the theft, passing along the surveillance footage of the suspect. He has yet to hear from investigators but doesn’t expect they’ll be able to recover the stolen package. The Record contacted the New Westminster Police Department regarding the investigation and was told investigators were reviewing Greenwood's video footage.
"The (department) is aware of similar thefts throughout the Metro Vancouver area but this has not been experienced to any great degree many here in New Westminster. We encourage residents to have someone home to receive the package or have it delivered to the local post office," read an emailed statement from the department.
This is the first time Greenwood’s heard of something like this happening in his neighbourhood, and he’s lived in the neighbourhood for about 10 years.
“I’ve seen it on the news – more in the States – happening, but I never thought it would be happening here,” he said. “It was really offensive and really kind of disturbing to watch the video and watch her think about it and look around and then saunter up really casually.”
Greenwood, meanwhile, hopes this incident will serve as a warning to neighbours.
“I guess we have to be a little more aware that there are people like this around, waiting to be opportunistic thieves,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to be at home more or have (things) delivered to alternate addresses or arrange for certain times.”
