New Jersey Police Use Bait Packages to Catch Porch Pirates

The explosion in online shopping has led to porch pirates and stoop surfers swiping holiday packages from unsuspecting residents. The police in one New Jersey city are trying to catch the thieves with some trickery of their own.

Police in Jersey City are teaming up with Amazon to install doorbell cameras and plant dummy boxes with GPS tracking devices at homes around the city, the  Associated Press  reports.

They didn’t have to wait long Tuesday for someone to take the bait.

“We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken,” said police Capt. James Crecco, who is overseeing the mission. “We thought it was a mistake at first.”