Porch pirates in Douglas County, Nebraska, should think twice before swiping holiday deliveries.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) has launched an innovative plan this season to put GPS tracking devices into decoy packages left on porches, allowing deputies to follow the stolen items straight to the suspects and arrest them.
The DCSO plan
Porch Pirates Beware!
— DCSO – Omaha, NE (@DCSheriffNE) December 10, 2025
DCSO is delivering packages of our own across Douglas County. The only difference is that ours also contain a tracking device and felony value items.
Next time you think about stealing someone's package, just know it could be one of ours and lead to… pic.twitter.com/dMHxxFde8z
The DCSO announced the operation on social media, explaining deputies will place what appear to be valuable delivery boxes, sometimes containing items of felony value if they’re stolen, on porches at cooperating homes across the county.
Little will the porch pirates know, hidden inside are GPS trackers that send location updates back to the sheriff’s office as soon as the package is taken. Deputies can then monitor the movement of the box, locate the person who stole it, and take action.
The DCSO captioned their post announcing the initiative in part, “Next time you think about stealing someone’s package, just know it could be one of ours and lead to your arrest and spending the holidays behind bars.”
The plan was hatched after Douglas County authorities decided rather than simply responding to reported package thefts after they occur, officials would shift to a more proactive stance. “We don’t like to be reactive. We want to be proactive,” Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson told local media, according to news outlet KMTV.
“We’re going to track them down, traffic stop them, or write a search warrant for their house, take them into custody, and charge them accordingly,” Hanson said. Officials hope the program will send a clear message to would-be thieves that stealing packages is not a low-risk crime this season.
The operation comes as package thefts typically spike with increased online shopping during the holidays, leaving many Nebraskans and other online shoppers nationwide frustrated by the loss.
Nebraska’s porch piracy problem
The DCSO is looking for the public's assistance in identifying the individuals depicted below. Both are responsible for the theft of many packages off of 156th and Ida on 12/2/2025. If you have any information please contact the DCSO Tip Line at 402-444-6000 or email at… pic.twitter.com/P7VaMmzgTG
— DCSO – Omaha, NE (@DCSheriffNE) December 12, 2025
Around the same time that the DCSO announced the GPS decoy package initiative, Douglas County authorities released video stills of two suspects allegedly responsible for multiple package thefts from homes near on December 2, 2025, and asked the public for help identifying them. Deputies noted the suspects are believed to have taken many packages and urged anyone with information to contact the sheriff’s office or Crime Stoppers.
Meanwhile, in York, Nebraska, police are investigating a more unusual theft that occurred on December 5, 2025, when a scammer reportedly used a third-party delivery service platform to have a package picked up from a home and shipped out of state to Florida. According to Central Nebraska Today, law enforcement is working with the transportation and shipping companies to identify the individual who orchestrated the theft.
