Mail Theft - Apartment and Condo Owners Protect Yourselves Against Mail Theft:

At 4:35 am Thursday morning, March 17 a lone female was spotted riffling through the mail boxes located in the lobby of an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Quadra St.

A resident of the complex spotted the woman and observed that she was not associated to the apartment building.  The suspect female spotted the witness and fled.  The suspect did have time to open several pieces of mail and she was observed with several other pieces as she fled.

A Victoria City Police canine officer and a PSD were called however the suspect was not located.

The Saanich Police is asking that anyone with information on this mail thief or anyone else who is involved in mail theft to contact the Saanich police at 475-4321 or the Greater Victoria Crimestoppers at 386-8477.

The suspect female is described as: a Caucasian woman, 154 cm (5'1") tall, 49 kg (101 lbs) light, with blonde hair worn in a bun, and last seen wearing a dark waist length jacket and blue jeans.  The witness believes that she also had a black back pack.

How to Protect Against Mail Theft:
1- encourage all tenants and owners to empty their mail boxes daily,
2- know who you are buzzing into your complex ( do not buzz anyone in unless you were expecting them),
3- if you belong to a strata it might be time to invest in a inexpensive monitoring camera for the front door and mail box area,
4- several financial institutions will allow you to have cheques and credit cards delivered to your local branch rather than to your home, and
5- be sure to observe the garage door closing as you enter your underground parking area.  This is often a way for would be thieves to enter secure parking areas.  People normally drive in and straight to their assigned parking space without watching the garage door close.  If you do not see the door close you can not be sure that no one unauthorized entered behind you.

(Reference SPD 05-6096)