Holiday Porch Pirate Season Is Here–Is This A Legal “Defense?” [VIDEO]

(video courtesy of TN4P on Facebook-Note: Video was created with help from AI, but approximates numerous reports of such devices being implemented).

Package theft, which has led to the term 'porch pirates,' began to accelerate after 2010-2011 when e-commerce took off (Amazon and others).  Since then, it has grown to cost Americans about $16 billion a year, according to Safewise.

A few years ago, people began to place fake packages on their porches, often full of dog droppings, diapers, or any other disgusting materials to provide a nasty surprise for porch pirate thieves when they opened the package later.  This was usually done in communities with high porch theft rates.

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It has since escalated to spring or cartridge-loaded boxes that will explode and shower the thief with paint, dye powder, glitter, or even substances we don't want to mention here. While security doorbell and camera videos of these boxes going off on porch pirates can be hilarious, it's raised some legal questions.

  Are exploding bait boxes illegal?

For decades, financial institutions have used exploding dye packs in money drop bags, given to robbers, but those are considered legal because the suspect is committing a felony--bank robbery.

But this appears to be different. You can find 'exploding dye packs for theft' at a number of online retailer websites. But they appear to lack the complete system needed to build an exploding device that will shower the person with whatever substance you choose.

Most such devices are 'custom built' by the homeowner, using their own design.

 What does the law say?

 A 1971 Iowa Supreme Court case ruled that homeowners do not have the right to set up booby traps to protect their property, but some experts say exploding bait packages are in the grey area between that and a useful deterrent. Legal sources point out, depending on the laws in your municipality or state, a homeowner can be held liable if their device injures the suspect, such as dye or glitter in their eyes, or they fall and get hurt while running away.

Most experts say it is better to arrange with the delivery service to drop the package in a location not well seen from the street, utilize security cameras that allow homeowner interaction (such as Ring). and try to have packages delivered when someone is home.