The rising popularity of having goods delivered directly to one's doorstep has come with increased attention on another phenomenon: porch piracy.in communities across the country.residents have expressed concern about stolen package.Now, lawmakers around the country are aiming to crack down on it.
About six years ago, Brook haven police has launched “Operation Plugged in”, a program that allows residents and businesses to register their private surveillance cameras with the department, so that police can request footage if a crime occurs in a certain area.Hundreds of individuals and businesses have registered their cameras as part of the program.
This technology has made policing quicker and easier, said Jacob Kissel, an officer at the Brook haven police department."We used to go out and knock on everybody’s door after a crime happened.Now we can pull up a man and there are bullet points of all of our registered residents with cameras", he added.That allows police to simply pick up phone and ask residents."Can you look at your system? Is there anything that you may be able to provide us?
Scholars who study surveillance and package theft raise concerns around the widespread use of technology to catch package thieves, however.For instance facial recognition technology has been known to misidentify people with darker skin tones.One research has also shown that predominantly white neighborhoods use doorbell cameras and related platforms more frequently than their non-white counterparts, and may often use these platforms to practice "racial gate keeping", which can lead to increased policing of communities of color.
Lawmakers say the new laws making package theft a felony reflect the deep concerns of their constituents.But its unclear whether residents truly feel that strongly about the issue.One Brook haven resident said his package was stolen last year and it was not a big deal.Since the incidents last fall, package theft has not been an issue in the community, and he was surprised to hear that police were building a felony case around the thefts."I honestly think that's a little extreme," said Sabah Khandaker, another Brook haven resident."A lot of the resources go into finding someone that has stolen a package.They could be reallocated somewhere else.”