Crimes of Opportunity: Simple Steps to Keep Yourself Safe

Crimes of opportunity, like the name suggests, are crimes that happen because the perpetrator saw an opportunity. They can vary in nature and commonness, but like all crimes, they evolve with the times. Today’s top crime of opportunity is one that wasn’t terribly common even six years ago. But because these crimes happen because someone sees an easy way to do it, you can take steps to reduce those opportunities and protect yourself from being a victim. See Opportunistic Crimes with Ben Stickle for a complete transcript of the Easy Prey podcast episode. Dr. Ben Stickle is a professor of criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University specializing in policing, property crime, and emerging crime trends. He both teaches and does groundbreaking research on new and evolving crimes. Ben started his career in law enforcement, but felt there was more he could offer the field than just his police work. He wanted to help people, and his favorite part of police work was always analyzing how things went and what could be better next time. So he shifted into academia and found that along with teaching future criminal justice workers, he really enjoyed research. He’s gotten into many interesting areas, including a lot of research into how to prevent crime. Some of his most popular research has been on metal theft and porch piracy/package theft. Metal theft is a crime of opportunity with a long history. It’s exactly what it sounds like – criminals steal metal out of something else, then sell it to a scrap yard for money. The hidden part of metal theft is the expense of recovering from it. In 2022, criminals stole all the copper wiring from a bridge in Los Angeles. They probably got a few thousand dollars for it at a scrap yard. But the cost to replace it doesn’t just include the wire itself, but also the tools and man-hours to put it back. It adds up to many times more than the metal value. Ben has talked to criminals who ripped electrical wiring out of drywall or cut off copper pipes where they came out of cement. All of that is expensive to replace. The expense to actually replace these items far exceeds the value of the metal that’s actually stolen. There’s no easy solution to this. Lots of states have passed legislation to increase penalties for extra damages, but it doesn’t seem to have worked. In California, a new law requires metal recyclers to keep records of everyone’s ID and the quantities and types of material they bring in. But Ben has talked to a lot of metal thieves. Almost every one had at one point had a job like roofer, plumber, or mechanic where they understood the value of metal. And a lot had a letter from a former employer saying that they were taking legitimate scrap from a legitimate business to the scrap yard. When these people left that job, they kept the letter. So the scrap yard may have verification that this person is doing all this legally, while in reality, they haven’t worked at that company for a long time. Ben went to Greece this last summer, and while on a tour, one of the guide said something interesting about the ancient columns. Originally, each column had a rod of metal in the center for support. But people would go around and carefully chip out that metal so they could recycle it. That’s why so many ancient Greek columns have fallen over – they were the victim of metal theft thousands of years ago. This crime of opportunity has been around a long time! A lot of people who steal metal are people who work with it. To someone without experience, a piece of copper isn’t intuitive. But for people who know what it’s worth and what to do with it, stealing it becomes a more attractive crime. And the value of copper (and other metals) is a strong indicator of how common those thefts will be. The higher the value, the more metal theft. The value of copper and other metals indicates exactly how much theft is going to happen. Ben recently did a study on catalytic converters. They are the part of a car exhaust system that reduces toxins and pollutants, and have been required in every car since the 1970s. They also contain rhodium, platinum, and palladium, which are precious metals. Catalytic converter theft is almost exclusively a kind of metal theft, because thieves are taking them for the metals inside. They are also fairly easy to steal, as they are exposed on the bottom of a car and can be removed quickly with simple tools. And any time the price increases on those metals, we see more catalytic converter theft. Unfortunately, there’s many things that just can’t be done without metal, so removing the incentive for this crime of opportunity is challenging. It’s a complex problem. But there are still things that can be done. Some businesses have started putting air conditioner units on top of their buildings, and you can also get a cage to put around your unit. Other manufacturers have moved from copper to a less valuable metal – but that’s more challenging, as you have to communicate that to a would-be thief and they have to believe it. Otherwise they might just steal it anyway. Manufacturers could work on ways to make the metals in their products harder to steal, but that creates its own problems. There’s always the risk of criminals finding a way around whatever protections they put in place. Then you end up with customers paying more for a theft-resistant product that criminals are stealing anyway. A key here is to take stock of the risk. If your risk is low, you probably don’t need to go all-out buying locking access panels and armored cages and such. In an area that’s hit over and over or is high-risk, though, it’s worth putting in the investment and effort to reduce that risk. Package theft, sometimes called porch piracy, is a fairly new type of crime. It’s not that it didn’t happen in the past, but it’s skyrocketed recently. It’s probably the most common crime in America, with the most victims. Actual breaking-in burglaries are fairly rare, but just about everyone has had one of their own packages stolen or knows someone who has. [Porch piracy] may be the most common crime in America … more people have been victims of this than probably almost any other category of crime. There are a few reasons why package theft has become such a common crime of opportunity lately. One is that we’re getting more packages delivered than ever before. Especially since covid, ordering things online and having them delivered to your house has just exploded. Additionally, the value of things we’re ordering has gone up, too. There’s enough porch pirate videos on social media that people know it’s an option. And it’s a low-skill, low-risk crime with potentially high rewards. You don’t have to risk breaking into a house, you don’t have to have the skills to cut off a catalytic converter or remove wiring, and you don’t have to take anything to a scrap yard. All you have to do is walk up, grab a package, and walk away. The potential for something valuable in that package is good. And it’s the easiest crime there is. You walk by a house, you take a package, and you walk away. It is the easiest crime that there is. Package theft is a nuanced, unique crime of opportunity with a lot of variation. Thieves follow delivery drivers around, wait until the middle of the night, dress up like delivery people themselves, or just happen to see a package while they’re out and grab it on a whim. Some behavior seems very organized. The thief spoofs tracking numbers, knows when the package is going to get delivered, and swipes it before you can even open the door. Some walk up with a clipboard and an empty box, pretend to knock on the door, swap their empty box for the real package, and walk away. On the other end of the spectrum is the teenager walking home from school, sees what looks like a recently-delivered pair of Nikes on someone’s porch, and decides to grab them. Everything you can think of when it comes to package theft happens. Ben recently did a survey online of people who stole packages. Believe it or not, people actually answered the survey. And a not insignificant number said they did it for revenge. A common reason was for not tipping delivery people – “You didn’t tip me so I’m going to steal your package.” Another said they stole their neighbor’s package because the neighbor’s kids were so loud. It’s everything from highly structured, organized crime to your neighbor taking your package because they’re mad at you. Camera companies have sold us the idea that cameras deter crimes of opportunity. But people have more cameras now than at any other point in history, and it doesn’t seem to be deterring package theft at all. Ben first became interested in package theft in 2019 and started by looking on YouTube. He found about 70 videos of the crime in action, and less than 5% of thieves made any effort to avoid being seen. Many times the thief would walk up to the house, see the camera, look at the package, look at the camera, and take the package anyway. We have more cameras now than we ever had in our entire history of anything, and it doesn’t seem to be having a lot of effect. Being caught on camera doesn’t matter if nothing comes of it. Opportunistic criminals know that their odds of being caught on camera, it being recorded, the owner going to the police, the police figuring out who they are, and the police arresting them are incredibly low. Cameras are useful for verifying if the package was actually stolen or if the neighbor’s dog just dragged it into the bushes. But they’re not useful for preventing these crimes of opportunity. If you actually want to prevent crime, there are three keys: See, Get, Fear. The would-be criminal has to see the deterrence, get (understand) what it is, and fear the consequences. It’s often not hard to see cameras. Thieves can reliably understand what it is. But they don’t fear the consequences. They don’t think they’re going to be caught or anyone’s going to care. And they’re not wrong. Police often won’t prioritize someone who stole $20 worth of toilet paper. The question becomes finding deterrence techniques that hit all three. If you want to keep yourself and your packages safe from these crimes of opportunity, there are a few free and easy things you can do. Amazon now often allows you to schedule delivery windows. Schedule it for when you’ll be home and bring the package in right away. The longer the package is there, the more opportunity there is for someone to commit a crime. If you can retrieve it when you get it, that’s best. [Package theft] is a crime of opportunity. The longer a package is there … the more likely there is to be a theft. Having it inside a mailbox is better than leaving it on the porch. If there’s something on your porch like a planer or bench it can go behind, that’s also good. You can also consider having it delivered to a neighbor, friend, or family member who is home, or use an option to pick it up at a locker or at a local store. If you get a lot of packages delivered or are otherwise high-risk, you can get a home parcel locker system. Ben has one on his porch. It’s a nice box that attaches to the house to receive packages and keep them safe. The key is just that if a thief can’t easily see a package, they’re not likely to come on your porch looking for one. The front porch is now our main center of commerce. We have to start rethinking it. Back when everyone had coal-burning furnaces in the basement, houses had coal chutes built into the walls. When milk delivery happened every day, houses had cutouts in the walls to easily exchange milk bottles. We need to think about how we’re building to receive packages. We’re probably not going to stop getting deliveries any time soon, so we need to rethink it from the beginning. The front porch is now the center of commerce for pretty much everything. Curves to get to the front door so it’s not visible from the road would be one option. A decorative box on the front porch, even if it doesn’t have a lid, can keep packages from being visible from the road. Ben has seen new designs where delivery people can deposit packages in a little door in the side of your house and you can open a door from the inside and get it. It’s also important to understand your risk. Lots of police departments publish statistics online now. You can check increases and see what you should be focused on protecting. The worst thing you can do is watch the news. They’ll have you panicking about something sensational but unlikely and meanwhile your package is getting stolen off your porch. And remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to reducing crimes of opportunity. Strategies for a suburban house would be different than those for a high-rise apartment. And what you’d need to do in California is different from Tennessee, which is different from Vermont. That’s why research is useful – we need more understanding of what we can do in all kinds of situations to reduce these crimes. Another area of crime Ben is keeping an eye on is in the sharing economy. It goes well beyond Uber and AirBNB . There are services out there now where you can rent tools, exchange your textbooks, and more. The opportunities are endless. The internet has removed the barrier to finding people to trade with, and now you can rent out your backyard pool for the afternoon. But that also brings real opportunities for crimes. These platforms also provide some protections. Some people are still worried about getting into cars with strangers, but there’s a guardian in the form of the company Uber. They know who you are and who the driver is and is monitoring you both. The same is true with these new sharing services. When you borrow your neighbor’s tool through the app, you’ve signed a contract that you’ll give it back. If you never do, that’s an offense – but there is a question of whether it’s criminal or a contract violation? The sharing economy is changing how people interact, and it’s also changing crime. The sharing economy is going to be huge. It’s going to change everything about how we interact with people, and it’s going to totally change crime. Learn more about Dr. Ben Stickle on his website, benstickle.com . There, you can find most of his work, along with his contact information.