Surrey RCMP investigating another act of porch piracy caught on camera

Another case of package theft by porch pirates caught on camera has prompted an investigation by RCMP and left a Surrey family questioning whether they are safe in their own home.

A delivery driver dropped off a package just after 5:30 Tuesday evening at a detached house in the city's Whalley neighbourhood.

When it disappeared, the family checked their CCTV cameras and found it had been stolen less than two minutes after being dropped off.

A man dressed in a red sweatshirt and red basketball shorts can be seen strolling nonchalantly into the yard and onto the porch where he scoops up the package.

The suspect even glances inside the mailbox, finding it empty, before casually walking away.

"And we could see him also in the camera, before coming to our place, he went to the opposite house as well, and the close-by house as well. So, that's been happening. It's very, very sad," said Nagarathnam Balasubramanian, who goes by Bala.

He reported the theft to police and said he found them to be quite responsive.

Bala has provided them with still images of the suspect from his home security system.

While acknowledging the crime is common, Surrey RCMP says it has not noticed a spike in package thefts.

It did provide advice to people expecting deliveries, including that they should sign up to track their packages by text or email and receive alerts, ask friends or neighbours to retrieve them if they can't be home, and install home security cameras.

Bala had already done that and his CCTV system shows him with his young grandson in the home's side yard at the time of the theft.

He can only imagine what might have happened had they wandered out front while the thief was still there.

"It is nothing but a violation. That's the right word," Bala told CTV News. "As I said, we put everything in place so that we are safer here."

He plans to immediately upgrade to a more secure mailbox but doesn't know what more can be done to completely deter porch pirates.