The best way to catch a thief is in the act, but if you prey on Amazon deliveries it's impossible for the authorities to keep an eye on thousands of boxes each day. Instead, the police in New Jersey got clever and decided to work with Amazon to deploy a number of fake Amazon boxes. Apparently it's working.

As The Associated Press reports, the initiative is being run by police in Jersey City as a way of trying to combat porch thefts. There's no official figures for how often these thefts happen, but a survey carried out by insuranceQuotes.com "extrapolated" that 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen. So yes, it's a problem that needs a solution.

For this crime-fighting experiment, Amazon is providing the fake boxes complete with the GPS tracker installed inside. A porch camera is also used to watch the box and record the theft to act as later evidence. Some fake boxes just have the GPS, others just the video recording, and some have both, but one or the other should be enough to make an arrest in most cases. As to where these fake boxes are deployed, Jersey City police selected the locations based on the crime statistics they have and the existing theft data Amazon provided.

By placing the bait in the high box theft areas, there's a much better chance of catching the porch thieves in the act who are likely hoping to grab a smart speaker. According to police captain James Crecco, it's working, "We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken. We thought it was a mistake at first."

Each thief may be an opportunist, or they could be a regular box stealer. Either way, this seems like a great way to catch them while requiring minimal resources. As news of this sting spreads, it should also make some people think twice about deciding to steal as they could be walking into a police trap.