While Christmas time brings many good surprises, Sheriff Loren Brand offers Groom students and community members a few tips on how to keep those holiday memories positive.

“The residents of Carson County aren’t immune to the thieves who will gladly steal your holiday packages and mail if they get the opportunity,” Sheriff Loren Brand said.

Sheriff Brand offers some tips to make it tougher for the bad guys.

• If you aren’t home during the day, send the package to a neighbor or relative who is home. Be sure that person knows ahead of time so she can be at home to accept the delivery.
• Request a signature confirmation on each delivery so a package will not be left at its destination unless someone is present to sign for it.
• Send packages to your work address instead of your home.

When ordering online be sure to check with your shipper for options.

“Our family likes to order online to get things quicker and cheaper,” sophomore K’Leigh Keesee said.

UPS offers My Choice, a service that alerts you by text or e-mail a day before the package is scheduled to arrived. You can reschedule the delivery for a different day or reroute the package to be delivered to a different address (a neighbor for example) if you won’t be home.

“They usually make you sign for things,” freshman Justina Coronado said. “So, not just anyone can get your stuff.”

FedEx offers similar services, including allowing you to hold the package at a FedEx retail location for pickup, or you can go online and request to have the package delivered to your home within a specific delivery time window.

“The USPS will hold mail for pick up under some circumstances,” Sheriff Brand said. “Talk to your local USPS office for further information.”

For instance, if you’re traveling during the holidays all USPS offices offer a hold mail service to keep your packages, and all your mail safe at one of their offices until you return. Both FedEx and UPS are warning consumers about fraudulent e-mails this year. These e-mails may reference a failed delivery or a suspended account.

“They are actually “phishing” e-mails, even though they may appear legitimate and come complete with the company brand, logo or legal disclaimers,” Sheriff Brand said.

These types of e-mails contain invalid hyperlinks that may contain malware, and could corrupt your computer. These are not legitimate e-mails, so if you receive one do not click on any links abd delete it. FedEx and UPS do not send unsolicited e-mails to customers requesting information regarding packages, payments, invoices, account numbers, passwords, financial information or personal information.

“Help protect our county. Report any suspicious persons or vehicles in residential or rural areas,” Sheriff Brand said. “We will check out the complaint and, hopefully, find that there is no criminal activity.”

In addition to helping student’s families stay safe at home, the sheriff’s department is also thinking of everyone’s holiday trips.

“Be safe in your travels,” Sheriff Brand said.

For more information on this article’s contents or other public safety issues, contact Sheriff  Brand at the Carson County Sheriff’s Office,  located on 201 US HWY 60, Law Enforcement Center, or at PO Box 972 Panhandle, TX 79068. The phone and e-mail are 806-537-3511 or [email protected]