DICKSON CITY, Pa. — Mail carriers deliver all sorts of mail daily in Lackawanna County, and thieves have taken advantage of what's left inside mailboxes overnight. Dickson City police have taken calls from residents of mail opened and left scattered in yards.
Dickson City Police Chief William Bilinski says he's also received calls from other municipalities about similar thefts and is concerned for residents. In addition, the pandemic has put a strain on mail carriers in the area, making these crimes easier to commit during the evening hours.
"It isn't like it used to be. It comes later at night. There's not as many carriers as it used to be during the day. People aren't checking their mail like they used to. We're finding out people are leaving mail for days in their boxes," Chief Bilinski said.
John Kryscio lives near where some of the thefts occurred. He says his mail sometimes doesn't get delivered until after 7 p.m.
"Next morning, when I go, I open the box, there's the mail. We never had it on Sunday. I one day, open up, and it was Sunday. And the morning, it was the mail, and then I saw the truck. I never had mail on Sunday. OK, so this is the thing; it's easy for people to target this."
Some neighbors have their mailboxes on their front porch, and the thought of someone coming up on their porch in the middle of the night is scary.
"They come to steal. They could harm somebody. You go and approach them. What's not to say they don't have a gun or a knife?" Kryscio said.
Thieves could be stealing checks, money, or personal identities to open credit cards, and police want to make sure these thefts don't continue.
"We've been asking for people to check their surveillance video, their Ring doorbells. If they do have cameras, if they can angle them towards their mailboxes, maybe we can catch a car, catch a vehicle, something like that, or someone walking in the area," Chief Bilinski added.
Dickson City police recommend that people purchase a mailbox with a lock on it so mail carriers can put mail in, and only the person with a key can get it out. Anyone with information on the thefts is asked to call police.
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