How Amazon Helped Cops Set Up a Package Theft Sting Operation

How Amazon Helped Cops Set Up a Package Theft Sting Operation

5 years ago
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https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3k3833/how-amazon-helped-cops-set-up-a-package-theft-sting-operation

In response to Amazon packages being stolen from people's doorsteps, police departments around the country have set up sting operations that use fake packages bugged with GPS trackers to find and arrest people who steal packages. Internal emails and documents obtained by Motherboard via a public records request show how Amazon and one police department partnered to set up one of these operations.

The documents obtained by Motherboard—which include an operations plan and internal emails between Amazon and the Hayward, California Police Department—show that Amazon’s “national package theft team” made several calls to the Hayward Police Department and sent the department packages, tape, and stickers that allowed the department to set up a “porch pirate” operation in November and December of 2018. The documents also reveal that the bait Amazon packages included real-time location-tracking devices in order to surveil and track anyone who stole a package.