In Montreal, a surge in “porch pirate” incidents, especially around the holiday season, is causing concern among residents and local authorities.
Lauren Small-Pennefather, a Montreal West councillor responsible for public security, highlighted the regular occurrence of package thefts in the area. Despite awareness and local bylaws, thieves are becoming increasingly crafty, often tailing delivery vehicles and swiftly stealing packages left unattended.
A recent FedEx survey underscored the growing problem, revealing that one in four Canadians have experienced package theft. The rise in porch security cameras and smart doorbells has led to more recorded incidents of these thefts.
However, the Provincial Police (SQ) are cautioning residents against posting these security camera clips online, citing potential privacy violations and defamation concerns.
“You cannot post the images yourself because you have to remember, in Canada, we have a presumption of innocence and posting that picture could be a violation of private life,” explained SQ communications officer Lt. Benoit Richard to CTV News. This can’t be real?!
Lt. Richard advises that evidence of theft should be reported directly to the police. “If you get some proof that somebody might have stolen something, call the police, give that proof to the police. We’ll do the investigation, bring that person to justice and file some charges,” he said.
To prevent the risk of package theft, Small-Pennefather recommends some tips. Residents can request a signature upon delivery, ensuring packages are not left unattended. Alternatively, arrangements can be made with carriers to pick up packages from their depots or Canada Post for example. But that just takes away the convenience of having toilet paper delivered to your front door.
What do you think? Do porch pirates have privacy rights at stake when they’re stealing your packages?
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Only in Canada, and particularly Québec, are we concerned about the rights of criminals at the expense of those of their victims. There’s no way I’d refrain from posting videos of someone trespassing on my property to commit a further crime against me. To Hell with the liberal criminal justice system in our country …
Here here! Absolutely ridiculous.
Justice isn’t a politcal ideology. Get a therapist.
There’s a difference between “liberal” and “Liberal.” Get an education.
“Justice isn’t a politcal ideology.”
Leftist ideologues can, and always do, make a mess of any criminal justice system.
but what if its deliberate usage, i could see that. its a liberal ideology to protect and rehabilitate (both are failures btw) and its a Liberal policy to not enforce laws due to some weirdly unexplained idea that a class of people are not expected to behave within societal norms. Perhaps instead of name calling you should inquire as to which perspective they are coming from.
One is a political party and the other is a political ideology. BOTH have nothing to do with justice. Get a therapist.
Oh shut up. Even the thief knows he is stealing the package.
If this isn’t a joke, it must be a Liberal lefty thing. Presumption of innocence is only related to someone you don’t have video of stealing something and then posting a picture. If you have the video of them stealing something it is proof of theft.
Head slap…..
but but but the guy just thought the Amazon guy delivered “his” package to someone else’s house and rather than bother anyone, he thought he would just go get it himself…
I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to take video of anyone on your own property, especially if you have a gate.
I do believe that it is the way these videos are posted that can be concerning. Posting a video of somebody trespassing on your own property and “potentially” stealing something for the purposes of identifying them cannot possibly be a crime for the poster.
If you don’t want to be posted online, don’t trespass on private residential property… I mean damn, there’s places in the US where you could be legally shot for the same thing.
This just in. Every police dept that post footage looking for help identifying has been illegal the whole time. Look for anyone convicted to file to overturn conviction. Same with every business in Quebec just found guilty of recording without permission when posting to social media to identify thieves.
Asking for help identifying someone isn’t illegal because there is no charge. Asking a question isnt the same as saying this is a thief
Absolutely ridiculous.
Posting a video of them online can in no way be interpreted as a violation of any presumption of innocence. At best it could be considered an accusation, if one makes such an accusation, which is foundational to a criminal legal system.
The cop is stupidly saying that we effectively don’t have the right to accuse someone of a crime, literally even with video evidence. Only the government and courts are required to have a presumption of innocence. They’re conflating a possible privacy issue (of a criminal) and maybe false accusations with presumption of innocence. Not the same thing.
There are no privacy rights in public and you determine what privacy exists within your property. The presumption of innocence ends with indisputable evidence, such as a porch camera recording. Also, the police won’t investigate, won’t file charges and won’t even create a report of the incident
There is no expectation of privacy if you are stepping on my porch and there is no basis of defamation if there is a factual evidence of someone removing an item from my private property. I don’t have to claim someone is a thief, I can just post the video of uninvited stranger’s activity on my porch. And even if I did make that accusation , in order to claim defamation, the alleged thief would have to successfully dispute video evidence and prove their innocence.
Lauren Small-Pennefather, a Montreal West councillor
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How do people like this ever get in a public position with their head so far up a….dark place of their anatomy.
I’d be curious how she would feel if a few items were stolen…er presumably stolen off her front porch.
Rather than mounting some discussion to reduce crime, she is advocating for the criminals then
wonder why our society is getting progressively worse.
All I can say to this “councilor” is:
https://media0.giphy.com/media/sbnHm4yZKFmpy/giphy-downsized-small.mp4
Instead of calling them porch thieves in the video, what if they are referred to as a person of interest that may know something about your missing package.?
Let me sum it up: cops don’t know the law ( they don’t have to, they never chase criminals, only stale donuts at TH), the councilor doesn’t have common sense or interest in protecting citizens in her ward.
TIME FOR A CHANGE.