Police in Utah get creative in effort to stop porch pirates: Once a package moves, officials will see it

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Christmas gifts, delivered to homes and left on porches are being swiped by burglars. Police in Utah are getting creative in an effort to catch the culprits red-handed.

Salt Lake City's Unified Police Department is putting out decoy packages -- and also tracking those packages using GPS technology.

“I had a TV delivered here on Black Friday. It never showed up," Roma Peddle of Millcreek, Utah said.

As it turns, out, thieves snatched Peddle's TV, which was placed outside her front door.

“It's sad that you can't just trust the neighborhood to leave it on the front porch,” Peddle said.

There are hundreds of cases just like this across the country.

“The holidays, there's so much theft, mail fraud theft,” said Sgt. Matt Visher.

Thousands of online orders are delivered each day. Unified Police are working to catch the bad guys through a new sting operation.

“The idea is to deter this from happening -- and make people aware that we're out looking, and we will continue looking for people until this problem stops,” said Lt. Lex Bell.

To catch thieves, UPD, United States Postal Service and Homeland Security officials are placing packages filled with fake electronics and GPS devices at homes in Utah.

“The idea is, if we can get some of the guys doing this, it will lead us to a larger ring of people, and we hope, lead us to a lot more stolen packages,” Bell said.

Once a package moves, officials will see it -- and be able to track the bad guys.

“You can drive through any neighborhood and see packages left on a doorstep, any day,” Visher said.

In most of these theft cases, thieves tail a delivery driver and pounce on the merchandise as soon as the driver is out of sight.

“It's definitely bold. It shows how confident they are. It's something that takes seconds, not minutes, to do,” Visher said.