Police Putting GPS On Packages In Sting To Catch Thieves

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- Gloucester Township Police Department has started a new crime-fighting initiative to catch robbers in the act. It's a type of "sting" that targets package and bicycle thieves.

"If you are not an honest and law abiding citizen, then don't come to Gloucester Township because you will never know if the item you are stealing is equipped with a GPS tracking system," said Mayor Dave Mayer of Gloucester Township.

Gloucester Township police announced the results of a year-long investigation where they used GPS technology to catch package and bicycle thieves. They put out about a dozen packages with motion-sensitive GPS trackers and when one was stolen from a home dispatch got an alert.

And officers caught the culprit.

"We decided to announce our use of this equipment a week before Cyber Monday to let would be thieves know packages delivered to homes in Gloucester Township may be equipped with a GPS device," said Chief Harry Earle with the Gloucester Township Police Department.

So far seven arrests have been made.

Six of the arrests were related to bike thefts and one was related to a package theft.