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Prince George Becomes 1st Canadian City To Introduce Amazon Bait Packages

Amazon Bait Packages Program Prince George

Photo: Prince George RCMP

If you’re a package thief in Prince George, British Columbia, you may want to watch out for Amazon bait packages during your next heist.

Or maybe not, because you likely won’t be able to tell the difference.

Prince George RCMP recently revealed that it has partnered with tech-hydra Amazon in a program to combat package thievery.

RELATED: A Man Tried To Steal A Bike From An RCMP Parking Lot. He Did Not Succeed.

Amazon Bait Packages Program

The program sees bait Amazon packages delivered to the homes of volunteers who have been affected by mail theft. Real items are included in regular Amazon packaging, except they carry an additional GPS tracker hidden inside.

When a package is taken, the RCMP are notified and can begin tracking the location of the package (and thief).

According to CBC News, 50 bait packages have been sent out into the wild. So far, 3 of the 50 bait packages have been taken, and one has resulted in the arrest of a 37-year-old man.

Constable Brent Benbow of the Prince George RCMP said he got the idea when he got word of several package thefts around the city. After learning of Amazon’s bait package program in New Jersey, he sent an email to Amazon, and that was that.

RELATED: Ex-Addict With 235 RCMP Encounters Strives To Become An Inspiration

“This is the first in Canada actually. We’re the first ones to partner up with Amazon and we’re the first ones to deploy their boxes, so it’s fairly unique that way”, he told CBC News.

“We understand the issues and the struggles that people in Prince George have had and we’re taking one of these projects on to hopefully show them that we know what’s going on, we know what’s happening and we’re going to prevent it.”

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