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CAUGHT IN THE ACT: MPD catches up with suspected porch pirate - FOX10 News

As authorities try to determine what caused Kobe Bryants helicopter to crash, killing him and eight other people Sunday, a new front-porch video seems to provide audio of the fateful flights final moments.

The chopper was taking Bryant and his group from Orange County to his basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks. The retired NBA player was scheduled to coach his daughter Giannas team in a game.

Authorities said it could take months to determine the cause of the crash and have urged witnesses to come forward.

One video seems to capture audio of the crash from a Calabasas residents front-door camera. The recording captures the sound of a helicopter flying nearby and then sounds like a crash.

We heard a sputter coming through and then a boom, the resident told KABC-TV, adding that she gave the tape to investigators.

The audio confirms what witnesses to the crash have said. A Times reporter on the scene when the crash occurred reported hearing a massive boom followed by a few seconds of silence. Then a fireball erupted on a hillside off Las Virgenes Road.

Jerry Kocharian, 62, was standing outside the Church in the Canyon drinking coffee when he heard a helicopter flying unusually low and seeming to struggle.

It wasnt sounding right, and it was real low, Kocharian told The Times on Sunday. I saw it falling and spluttering. But it was hard to make out as it was so foggy.

The helicopter vanished into the sheet of fog, then there was a boom and a big fireball, he said.

Scott Daehlin, 61, was taking a break from setting up sound for a service at Church of the Canyon, which is below the crash site, when he heard the helicopter overheard.

Because of its proximity to the ground, I knew something was wrong. It was hovering real low, like they were searching to land. It was making a slow left turn. It was about 9:44 a.m., and then the impact happened. I heard a crunch.

NTSB investigator Jennifer Homendy said at Tuesdays news conference that the helicopter was at 2,300 feet when it lost communication with air traffic controllers. The helicopter was descending at more than 2,000 feet per minute at the time of impact.

So we know that this was a high-energy impact crash, and the helicopter was in a descending left bank, Homendy said.

The chopper hit the hillside at an elevation of 1,085 feet, about 20 to 30 feet above an outcropping of the hill. But even if the pilot had been able to fly above that outcropping, he would have faced new hazards ahead.

There are actually other higher hills surrounding it, said Bill English, a lead investigator.

On Tuesday, the NTSB released the first images of the crash site in the form of a short video.

The video shows the charred wreckage of the helicopter, which broke apart on impact. Much of what remained of the chopper was burned beyond recognition. But a wheel and parts of the fuselage appear not to have been burned.

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Audio of crash that killed Kobe Bryant may be on porch camera - Los Angeles Times

Katie Hodges Design

When it comes to setting the mood in any space, lighting is of utmost importance. Sunshine and moonlight might be the best sources for light in outdoor areas, but it definitely helps to have some backup. With this in mind, we're spotlighting 16 lighting ideas and tips so you can see clearly in your outdoor oasis no what time of day or year it is. Keep reading to learn about the best ways to create comfortable, stylish, safe, and well-lit backyards, porches, balconies, and beyond.

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1Recessed Lights

If you want barely-there overhead lighting on a porch or in the backyard, opt for recessed can lights built right into the ceiling. In this space designed by Emily Henderson, the white recessed lightning blends right in so you notice the light they shine...without actually seeing them.

2Downlights

Outdoor lighting provides safety value, too, especially on stairs. Choose built-in downlights that will brighten up the path but also complement the style of the facade. Corinne Mathern opted for brass to accent this adobe home in Santa Barbara and placed them every few steps so it doesn't make the partition wall cluttered. Alternatively, you could place them on the face of the stairs so you only see them while walking up.

3Pendant Lights

This balcony in a home designed by Commune Design feels like an organic extension of the interiors. A bold, metallic pendant light is a great way to jazz up your exteriors. But this isn't your living room. So to put it in the right context, use nature-inspired materials burled wood or rattan and add a botanical-print throw.

4Hurricane Candles

Alfresco dining is great, but cooking outside is even better. In a Key West house, the outdoor kitchen cabinets are made from old cypress shutters and the tropical florals bring a bright pop of playful colors. And the hurricane candles scattered around the area provide plenty of soft lighting.

5Floodlights

Because the slat roof means you can't install recessed lighting, Heather Hilliard opted for minimalist floodlights that secure to the frame of the structure and fill the entire dining area with light. Though a little more noticeable, the black minimalist design blends in well with the space. These are also a great option safety-wise for front doors and driveways, especially if you set them up with sensors to automatically light up when motion is detected.

6Tree Pendants

Show your trees some love and dress up the backyard by hanging lanterns in the branches, as Alexander Design did here. This will set the mood for a truly magical outdoor living space. It's mostly aesthetic and shouldn't be your only light source, but it definitely adds some style.

7String Lights

Designer Jill Sharp Weeks used string lights to make her garden feel like an extension of her home. The space even includes an outdoor privy, the only bathroom on the ground floor.

8Floor Lamps

To make a backyard sitting area feel like an outdoor living room, opt for traditional indoor lighting, like a floor lamp but in a more resilient and nature-inspired materialjust make sure your outdoor area is electrically equipped for one. Contractor Tim Givens built the swinging daybed on the back porch of Liza Pulitzer Calhoun's Palm Beach house, and she simply covered its seat with a favorite tablecloth.

9Pool Lights

This minimalist and modern backyard is area is full of lighting ideas. Pool lights are a game-changer for night swims, and if you look in the far left, you'll notice the garage skylight that gives you peek at the cars below and allows for shared light.

10Chandeliers

Now this is how you make an entrance. In this Spanish-style Beverly Hills home designed by Commune Design, the front porch is inviting, comfortable, elaborate, and ornate all at once. The warm terracotta tiles, exposed beams, and wood stool ground the intricate wrought iron lighting and fuchsia pops of color.

11Underglow

It doesn't get any chicer than this backyard designed by Night Palm Studio. The mood is undeniably sultry, from the curved shape and soft swirls of the marble and white to the wave-like daybed while edgy concrete foundations, and underglow LED lighting built into the bench.

12Garden Lights

See that little spotlight nestled into the rock landscaping behind the bench? Shaped like spotlights or little torches, garden lights ares perfect for anyone who wants to shine a light on their gardening skills even after the sun goes down.

13Sconces

If your backyard sitting area doesn't have a ceiling or overhead structure, make sure there's a bright sconce attached to your home. Interior designer Jenn Feldman opted for a large, lantern-style sconce here.

14Ceiling Fam Lights

This front porch designed by Amanda Lindroth is a tropical dream. It inspires us to pick our favorite color when and run with it. Also, installing a ceiling fan (or several, depending on size) will keep the air circulating on those balmy nightschoose one that doubles as a light for bonus points.

15Candle Lanterns

Thin trees shade a 1960s home's walled retreat. Elizabeth Kennedy and Ray Booth brought the interior's sleek style outdoors by adding all-weather chairs and row of lanterns.

16Garden Lights

This back porch by Regan Baker Design is the perfect private spot to unwind in. To make it conducive to entertaining, bring in addition floor seating with large outdoor floor cushions and keep it bright with bollard lights, which are shapes like posts crowned with a light so it shines the surrounding area in every direction.

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15 Stylish Outdoor Lighting Ideas - The Best Backyard Light Options - HouseBeautiful.com

For one of my most recent orders from Amazon, the delivery driver dropped off the package on my doorstep like normal but then Amazon followed up by sending an email, which included a photo taken of the package sitting right there in front of my door once it had been dropped off. The photo was obviously taken by the driver and, if you ask me, seems to be sort of a poor mans response to all the porch piracy thats on the rise. As if Amazon is basically saying, okay, there you go. If its not there when you get home, sorry pal it wasnt us.

People swiping unattended packages from porches and doorsteps is certainly not a new phenomenon and something thats probably to be expected with the explosion in e-commerce. Its starting to lead to some pretty wild solutions to deter those porch pirates, however, such as this one we told you about involving a glitter bomb booby-trap. And on the less dramatic front, Yale Home has introduced a new smart delivery box thats meant for your front doorstep that can be weighted down, locked and represents a pretty simple way to keep your packages safe until you can get there to retrieve them.

The box, according to the company, allows customers to receive packages and perishables deliveries (e.g. food, wine, cosmetics, medicine) securely and conveniently and is meant to address the reality that almost 40% of American households say theyve experienced some kind of porch pirate-related package theft.

The company says the box will launch this spring and will be available at ShopYaleHome.com and major retailers. The box will cost $229 by itself, or $278 with an accompanying Wi-Fi Bridge that makes remote management of the box possible.

Image Source: Yale Home

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This smart delivery box to ward off porch pirates is a nice idea in theory - BGR

(CNN) The thief who stole a box containing a wedding album off a Wisconsin womans porch had a change of heart.

For two months, the woman waited for the books full of professional photographs from her Dominican Republic wedding. But after a delivery man dropped them off, a porch pirate snatched them.

The theft was caught on the homes surveillance camera.

He walks up with a box, he knocks. No one answers, and he just leaves with my photo albums, which has no value to him. Its no one we know, said Aymee Blancovitch.

Blancovitchs husband posted the mans photo to social media in hopes someone would recognize him. But the man returned the books.

I dont know why or who or what. You know, there was no reason, Blancovitch said. But if hed drop them off, God bless you. Thank you so much.

Blancovitch said the man threw the books back on the porch and then ran to a car waiting for him around the corner.

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Porch pirate steals couples wedding photos then returns them - WFLA

Home > > Looking to thwart porch pirates? There's an app for that

January 3, 2020

Startup launches service that connects online shoppers with neighbors who can accept packages on their behalf.

By DC Velocity Staff

Thanks to the e-commerce explosion, some 13 billion packages moved through the U.S. last year, piling up on porches and doorsteps from coast to coast. Most of those boxes were delivered without incident, but an estimated 0.2%totaling 26 millionwere stolen by "porch pirates" who swiped the goods before the rightful owner could claim them.

But what if a trusted neighbor could accept the parcel in the recipient's absence? That's the model being pitched by New York-based startup Pickups Technologies, which has created an app that connects online shoppers with a crowd-sourced network of neighbors who can accept packages on their behalf. To use the service, shoppers simply choose the "Ship to Pickups" address option during checkout, and Pickups Technologies takes care of the rest, the firm says.

Now available in the Williamsburg section of New York City's Brooklyn borough, the platform targets the estimated 90,000 packages that are stolen in New York City every day. But the benefits go beyond simply eliminating the headaches assciated with package theft, according to Pickups Technologies Founder and CEO Gabriel Cepeda. It also gives the growing workforce of freelancers and remote employees an opportunity to monetize their time at home by receiving packages and getting paid for every package held, he says.

You can learn more or sign up for the service here.

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Feedback: What did you think of this article? We'd like to hear from you. DC VELOCITY is committed to accuracy and clarity in the delivery of important and useful logistics and supply chain news and information. If you find anything in DC VELOCITY you feel is inaccurate or warrants further explanation, please ?Subject=Feedback - : Looking to thwart porch pirates? There's an app for that">contact Chief Editor David Maloney. All comments are eligible for publication in the letters section of DC VELOCITY magazine. Please include you name and the name of the company or organization your work for.

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Looking to thwart porch pirates? There's an app for that - DC Velocity

By Pat Johnson | Jan 08, 2020

Tuckerton, NJ Harmonies of blue grass, country and old-time music fill the air of the Tuckerton Seaports Hunting Shanty the first Sunday of every month when the Pickin on the Porch program takes the stage. Local musicians Linda and Bill Salmons created the program, part of the Seaports Folklife Center, 15 years ago. Most recently, after Bill suffered a stroke, Linda has been the sole force behind it. Musicians come from all over, she said. We have musicians who come regularly from as far away as Fortesque on the Delaware and Pennsylvania.

The venue not only draws professional musicianssuch asslide-guitarist Paul Unkert, fiddle player Chris Norden and banjo player Mark Urban (who lives just down the road), but also is awelcoming place for aspiring newcomers. Were a welcoming place, said Salmons. This is a no-judgment zone.

The musicians gather in a circle on folding chairs and do a round-robin, each one picking a popular tune theyd like to play, telling what key its in and, like as not, the rest of them play along. As the tune progresses, the protocol is for the leader to give a nod to the player they want to do a short solo; then the banjo plays a lick, or the slide guitar or the fiddle or bass player. It all goes smoothly, more or less. Singing is always welcome, and the audience is included. To end the song, the leader merely lifts his or her foot.

Pickin on the Porch started on the porch of the Tuckers Island Lighthouse, hence the name, but in the colder months, its good to huddle in the Hunting Shanty, where there is always a pot of coffee brewing. The informal jam session happens the first Sunday ofeach month at noon except in September, when the musicians go to the Delaware Valley Blue Grass Festival held in Woodstown.

The end of this month, most of the musicians will be traveling to the Wilmington Winter Blue Grass Festival held in Wilmington, Del. At least that was the scuttlebuttamong the regulars this past Sunday. Other topics of conversation included introducing a new guitar player to the need to change her strings more than once every two years and introducing her to guitarist Paul Unkert, who is also a luthier a maker and repairer of guitars from Toms River.

Salmons, a Tuckerton area native, has been singing and playing guitar since she was a kid, about10 years old. We all start somewhere, she said. Though the music is mostly bluegrass, country or old-time songs, sometimes the vibe goes bluesy, or there may be some doo-wop, classic Tin Pan Alley or swing. It all depends on whos there,. Its fun, said Salmons. Music is where all my friends are.

Pat Johnson

patjohnson@thesandpaper.net

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Pickin' on the Porch at the Tuckerton Seaport - By Pat Johnson - The SandPaper

Online shopping is one of the great luxuries of our time up there with the invention of the dishwasher and washing machine in terms of saving time and energy in our busy lives. But as a psychotherapist, I realized many years ago that shopping in stores is, for some people, an important antidote to loneliness and isolation. A quick, pleasant conversation with a salesperson or even simply taking in the energy of people in a mall could lift someones spirits and make them feel less alone.

So what are we doing with those lonely feelings now that were doing so much of our shopping online?

One of the things were doing, it seems, is bonding over a controversy directly related to all of that online shopping a controversy that is escalating as holiday packages are being delivered to and stolen from in front of our homes. We're getting pissed at so-called porch pirates.

According to an article in The New York Times, in New York City alone 90,000 packages go missing daily, up 20 percent from four years ago. Many of these deliveries are stolen from front porches and building lobbies, where they are dropped off when no one is home to receive them.

The conflict, which sometimes involves name calling and heated attacks on personal values, has to do with who is at fault. Some angrily accuse the delivery companies and their employees for failing to properly ensure for the safety of the packages. Others blame the thieves, some of whom follow delivery trucks and take items as soon as they are delivered. Others attack homeowners for their sense of entitlement.

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You dont leave your car keys in your unlocked car and assume that no one will bother to steal it, do you? said one man I interviewed about this issue.Why should anyone in this day and age believe that they can leave packages unattended outside their homes and not tempt someone else to take them?

Victims of these thefts can also be attacked for not being empathetic enough to the thieves themselves. Ganave Fairley, a convicted porch thief whose story was told recently in The Atlantic, denies that she stole anything that wasn't freely available, despite being caught numerous times on surveillance and personal cameras, and calls her accusers racist. Some readers responded with vitriol toward the neighbors who put Fairley behind bars, perceiving their efforts to stop her as a failure to empathize with her pain and suffering in other areas of her life. One often repeated comment about Fairley is that she represents how childhood mistreatment leads to an inability to cope with real life."

These are all age-old arguments about community members' rights to personal security and what drives a minority of people in marginalized communities to engage in antisocial behavior, sometimes stigmatized as criminal acts, but what is new about the arguments is the intensity of the anger and the resentment that seems to be driving them. And that makes me wonder if the very thing that has created the problem the luxury of online shopping itself has somehow contributed to people's fervor.

Much has been written about the dangers of the internet, and in particular the ways that it can make us feel lonelier and less connected. Humans are social by nature; scientist Mathew Lieberman writes in his book, "Social," that we are wired to connect. Even those of us who identify ourselves as introverts need human contact.

Shopping, at least after the specialization of labor and particularly after the rise of consumerist capitalism, has historically provided some contact for most of us, which can help with depression, loneliness and even eating disorders. But we dont even have contact with salespeople or brush by other shoppers when we shop online.

Emma Seppala, a researcher at Stanford University, writes, People low in social connection are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, antisocial behavior and even suicidal behaviors. Further, according to a classic study published in Science, the absence of social connection can be more damaging to our physical health than smoking, obesity or high blood pressure.

Some of the response to porch thieves, like in the case of the New York woman who takes in packages for her neighbors, and who receives thanks in cakes and cookies and friendship, is lovely.

But is it possible that joining others in a community of rage is also a way of counteracting loneliness? It would make sense these days, when weve grown accustomed to openly expressed anger as an acceptable form of communication.

David Ludden, a psychologist who writes for Psychology Today, says that when used well, social media can actually help us make connections. And connections are forming as people band together on one side or the other of the porch pirate controversy.

The New York Times article describes the woman who collects delivered packages for all of her neighbors, creating a community in her building. Last year a community in Phoenix organized a similar approach in time for the holidays. Neighborhood watches have sprung up in some areas although as can happen when anger is the unifier, in some cases these watches seem to increase, rather than decrease, the conflict.

And therein is the rub. A family in Florida who filled a decoy package with dirty diapers came in for a lot of positive feedback, but also some criticism for being unkind even more so when they discovered that the packages they thought had been stolen had actually just been delivered to the wrong address.

Anger is a powerful connector. In a world where we often tend to feel isolated and lonely, the package pirates have offered us yet one more opportunity to bond sometimes as neighbors who take in packages for one another, and sometimes over our shared outrage. But anger can destroy bonds, in part by damaging not just the other person, but also your own self-esteem.

In the end, you have a choice about whether youd prefer to connect over anger or over a shared solution. Perhaps when filling boxes with human feces for faceless strangers who may or may not be the faceless strangers who took one of your packages you might consider whether your time and energy would be better spent befriending a retired neighbor who would be happy to answer the door for a UPS delivery person in return for an occasional neighborly visit from you.

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Porch pirates have become public enemy number one. Stopping them might require more kindness. - NBC News

With online-ordered holiday gifts being delivered to doorsteps across Ventura County, many local residents are probably worried about porch pirates.

But potential victims can take heart in this: Statistics show package thefts are down this year from 2018. Some local cities are on track to see only half the cases they saw last year.

As of a few days ago, the Ventura County Sheriffs Office, which provides police services in unincorporated areas as well as Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Ojai and Fillmore, had received reports of 53 cases so far this yearcompared to 93 last year. according to Sgt. Marta Bugarin.

Holidays: Ventura County should see wet Christmas as holiday travel soars

Also seeing a sharp decline was Simi Valley, with 27 cases this yearcompared to 60 in 2018, according to Cmdr. Steve Shorts.

Ventura had seen 12 cases this yearcompared to 23 in 2018, said Sgt. Edward Caliento.

Port Hueneme was on track to roughly match last years total, with 59 cases this year compared to 62 in 2018, said Norma Rodarte, senior record technician with the Port Hueneme Police Department.

Figures werent available for Oxnard, and the Santa Paula Police Department didnt have the exact number of package thefts because the agency doesnt track them separately from other thefts, saidRecords Supervisor Dianna Miller DeRemer.

Oxnard police arrested a suspected package thief after a neighbor reported suspicious activity on Tuesday.(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The decline in incidents surprised some local law enforcement officers.

One of the things we are surprised is that there are not as many package thefts reported in December, Shorts said.

Officers attributed the decline to better prevention efforts by homeowners.

Almost universally, they cited increased use of video doorbells that can record the thefts and thus deter porch pirates or help police catch those who go through with the crime.

Demographics: California's population stalls at 39.9M as more flee state

Besides getting a video camera, agencies offered this prevention advice:

Preventing theft of whats on the porch is only part of the holiday battle against thieves; they could still break into your home, especially if youre out of town on a holiday trip.

The U.S. sees about 1.5 million home burglaries each year, with FBI statistics showing nearly 76,000 occur in Southern Californias Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

For people who are going out of town for the holidays, the Auto Club of Southern California offered these burglary prevention tips:

Mo Jazi is a breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach him atmo.najafianJazi@vcstar.comor 805-437-0236.

Support local journalism: Follow high-profile court cases and track public safety threats so you can protect your family, Get unlimited access to coverage like this with a digital subscription to The Star.

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Stats on package thefts from porches in Ventura County could surprise you - VC Star

Twas a couple of weeks before Christmas, when the culprit sneaked up to a San Pedro home, snatched a package on the porch and ran off with the goods.

But a witness quickly caught the thief: an unlikely but rather anxious bushy-tailed squirrel.

The package was returned to its owner. The incident was caught on a home surveillance camera.

Not everyone is so lucky, however. As online shopping becomes increasingly popular, so too has porch piracy or the pilfering of delivered packages.

Typically, according to FedEx, Amazon and other delivery and online companies, such issues are swiftly resolved.

But sometimes particularly during the holidays, when timing is of the essence porch piracy begets long-term conflict and disappointment.

Recently, nearly 300 Amazon packages were stolen from a post office in Amador County in Northern California. Indeed, the problem appears to be especially acute in the most populous state in the country.

Three of the top 10 metro areas in the nation most susceptible to porch piracy are in California, according to a recent report by SafeWise, an independent security system review site. The rating list was compiled by comparing FBI crime data with Google Trends searches for missing and stolen packages.

The watchdog site examined metro area package-theft rates for the entire year, compared with holiday-specific theft rates.

The San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area came in first, SafeWise found. Los Angeles and the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto area came in at ninth and 10th places, respectively. In these areas, the rate of theft was determined to be consistent throughout the year.

Other regions in the top 10 list were Salt Lake City; Portland, Ore.; Baltimore; Seattle-Tacoma; Chicago; Austin, Texas; and Denver.

Asked if SafeWises findings aligned with their own internal data, the U.S. Postal Service and Amazon did not respond or declined to comment. Jonathan Lyons, a spokesman for FedEx, also declined to provide data about reported package thefts. But he did cite a 2018 Comcast and Wakefield Research Survey, which indicated that 1 in 4 Americans has fallen victim to package theft.

But he also noted that there are steps our customers can take for added peace of mind.

FedEx has instituted its own preventive measures, including having items shipped to alternative destinations, such as a relatives home, ones workplace, a FedEx office location or an authorized shipping center, such as Walgreens or Albertsons.

To ensure that items are not left unattended, customers can also schedule deliveries at a convenient time or require a signature from the recipient. Specific delivery instructions can also be provided to FedEx drivers. Do you like your packages left behind the big planter or tucked behind the grill beside the back door? the company asks.

Some customers have installed surveillance cameras and video doorbells to keep an eye on their parcels, while a few law enforcement agencies have resorted to elaborate sting operations, using packages with GPS trackers inside, in an effort to reduce the number of thefts.

In Amador County, where some 300 parcels were stolen from the post office on Dec. 1, local authorities have no surveillance footage or witness information to go on. On the sheriffs Facebook page, victims of the theft are encouraged to share their experience.

Through a post, Jean Michelle Morgan Ballard indicated that shed lost out on nine packages of gifts for her grandchildren. Likewise, Victoria Cox Noble was waiting on three presents. When Cox Noble reported the loss, she said, Amazon gave her a refund. Still, she will not be able to replace the products, one of which was part of a Black Friday sale, because they are no longer available.

To date, only a handful of victims have come forward. Plus, Amazon never reached out to us, never gave us any information, Amador County Undersheriff Gary Redman said. As a result, the agency has been unable to determine the level of theft.

All of the stolen packages were taken from a post office that was closed for the day.

The delivery person, who was hired through a third-party company, left them at the wrong place, Redman said.

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Three of top 10 metro areas in the country vulnerable to 'porch piracy' are in California - Los Angeles Times