Pictured: A suspected package thief in a 2016 image. File photo
The following letter was sent by Dorchester resident Cara Gillis to Mayor Michelle Wu, members of the Boston City Council, Area C-11 Captain McCarthy, and The Reporter.
I am writing to raise an issue that comes up repeatedly at our neighborhood meetings (both Dorchester North Neighborhood Association and Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association) and to suggest what I believe could be a simple, inexpensive way for the City to address it more effectively.
Package theft has become a persistent quality-of-life problem. At virtually every neighborhood meeting, residents report packages being stolen from porches, steps, and building entrances. We routinely see reports – many including photos and videos – on neighborhood social media warning others about recent thefts.
Residents regularly find the aftermath of empty shipping boxes and packaging scattered along our sidewalks and in our parks.
Our community service officer, Officer George Downing (Area C-11), has been extremely helpful at our meetings and consistently gives us the same advice: Every theft should be reported to BPD so there is a record of when and where these incidents are occurring. He explained that this information is vital because it allows BPD to identify crime patterns and determine where and when additional resources are needed.
The problem is that the current reporting system may be unintentionally preventing the City from obtaining the very data it needs.
As I understand it, to file a police report for a stolen package, a resident generally needs to go to a police station in person. For many Dorchester residents, that is not particularly convenient and creates a significant barrier to reporting. Residents can also request that an officer come to them, but most people understandably do not want to call an officer away from potentially more important work for what they view as a relatively minor property theft. Moreover, doing so requires the resident to remain available for hours while waiting for an officer to free up.
The predictable result is that the vast majority of package thefts go unreported – not because residents don’t care, but because they simply do not have a practical way to contribute that information to the City’s official data.
This is where I believe Boston’s 311 system could provide a very useful solution. I suggest that package theft be added as a specific reporting category to Boston 311. A resident could report a stolen package through the app or phone line in less than a minute, providing the date, approximate time, and location of the theft. Those reports could then be mapped and analyzed to identify patterns and concentrations of activity.
City officials and BPD could use that information to better understand the true scope of the problem and make more informed decisions about patrols, deployment of resources, and other potential interventions.
Importantly, this would not replace the existing police-reporting process. It could be made very clear in the app that a 311 package-theft report is for tracking and data purposes only and does not constitute an official police report. Residents would still be encouraged to file a formal report with BPD when appropriate, particularly when there is useful evidence like video footage or a suspect description.
The important point is that we would no longer be forced to choose between an official police report that is burdensome for the average resident, and an informal Facebook post that disappears into a social media feed providing zero usable data to the City. Instead, there would be a simple middle ground that captures the information the City needs.
Package theft may seem minor when viewed as an individual incident, but when it becomes a recurring experience throughout a neighborhood, it becomes a quality-of-life issue. Residents lose not only property, but also confidence that their homes and belongings are secure.
Repeated, unchecked property theft can contribute to an environment in which property crime becomes normalized and residents feel increasingly vulnerable. It begins to feel like these types of offenses are simply something residents are expected to accept as part of living in the city.
I believe adding package theft to 311 is a common-sense, low-cost step toward gathering the data needed to better address the problem. It seems to me that there is very little downside: it would not replace police reporting; it would not require residents to tie up police officers for minor incidents; and it could provide BPD and City officials with significantly better data for making decisions about resources and policy. Most importantly, it would give residents a practical way to say, “This happened here, today,” and have that information actually count.
Thank you for considering this idea.
-Cara Gillis, Dorchester
