Some D.C.-area residents are considering taking action after they discovered that crooks have stolen their package deliveries from their front steps.

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The boxes either disappear or they're found discarded and empty a few blocks away. Residents tell ABC7 it's been happening at least once a week for the past year.

Joseph Himali has lived in Cleveland park for nine years. He owns a business here too.

"And when you have packages stolen you have that creeping suspicion that their home isn't safe,” he says.

They've also seen a recent wave of vehicle airbag thefts. So Himali is hoping to convince the neighborhood to hire its own security company to patrol the streets, like the Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood did.

"They've hired a security company to do patrols in the neighborhood and that neighborhood has seen a 34% drop in crime,” Himali says.

Himali posed the question on the neighborhood listserv and more than half of the responses have said they'd be interested in a patrol.

For some though, normal police patrols is enough.

In the meantime, U.S. Postal inspectors in D.C., like Lori McCallister, advise residents to have their local post office hold the package and then go pick it up.

"A lot of people are now having stuff delivered to their places of business,” she says.

As Cleveland Park residents try to decide whether to hire a private security company to patrol their streets and combat the package thefts, Himali says it would cost each family between $30 and $70 dollars a month.