Local News

ACCPD officers hand deliver abandoned packages

WUGA | By Alexia Ridley

Published December 17, 2025 at 3:16 PM EST

A police officer carries a large package up the steps of a house decorated with holiday lights and balloons.

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An officer delivers a recovered package to a home decorated for the holidays.

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

A group of Athens-Clarke County police officers stands behind tables filled with dozens of recovered Amazon packages.

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Athens-Clarke County police display recovered packages.

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

A police officer smiles while holding a large Amazon box on a residential porch at night.

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An officer returns a missing package to its owner.

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

Stacks of Amazon boxes and paper parcels fill the passenger seat and floorboard of a police patrol car.

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Recovered packages fill the front seat of a patrol car.

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

A large pile of Amazon packages and delivery bags sits on the curb at night, stacked inside and around oversized yellow and blue tote bins.

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Around 70 undelivered packages abandoned on a neighborhood sidewalk after a delivery driver quit mid-shift.

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

Members of the ACCPD helped to make the holiday season a little brighter for some residents.

On November 29, 2025, the department received a call regarding around 70 packages that had been left on the sidewalk. Officers called the delivery service and discovered the driver had quit their shift and left the packages.

The company said it would not send anyone to retrieve them, and that officers could donate or discard the packages and the delivery company would replace them for customers. Officers decided to split the packages up among themselves and hand deliver them.