Watch Your Packages, Watertown - They May Go Missing!

Keep a careful eye out for all those items you ordered online during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, thieves may be swooping in and stealing them, police warn.

Watertown and other communities have seen an increase in the number of packages being taken from doorsteps and the lobbies of apartment and condo buildings, said Watertown Police Lt. Michael Lawn.

"We have had a few reports recently and this is becoming a big problem especially around Christmas time when people are ordering many items online," Lawn said. "This is just not a problem in (apartment) buildings but also in residential neighborhoods."

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Police have caught people following delivery trucks and grabing the boxes after they are delivered, Lawn said. 

"I would advise residents to track there packages online and know the date of delivery and make some arrangements for it to be delivered securely or have someone looking out for it," Lawn said.

In some cases, the packages may not be delivered, due to the problem. One Watertown mail carrier said packages will no longer be left at doors if someone is not home even if the customer has selected "no signature is required."

Patch could not confirm with the Boston office of the U.S. Postal Service whether this is a univesal policy for the region.