GARNER, N.C. — It’s that time of year where presents are being mailed across the country. It’s also when we usually see more reports of packages stolen off porches.

What You Need To Know

Amazon Cloud Computing Networks caused many of Amazon's services to be down last week

Garner police say there have been less reports of packages being stolen this holiday season compared to last

Garner police have a partnership with the Ring Neighborhood App. Neighbors can post videos and talk to their neighbors as well as police

Officer Warren Frey has been patrolling the neighborhoods of Garner for a little more than a year now, but he says there aren't as many people stealing packages as previous Decembers.

“From my experience this year, it doesn’t seem we’ve had too much,” Frey said.

Part of that reason could be due to doorbells with cameras, such as Ring. The Garner Police Department says video doorbells have helped in several investigations.

“There was a hit and run on a mailbox. I was able to use one and see the vehicle that struck the mailbox, and I was able to drive around and locate the vehicle” Frey said.

While many people have been relying on this technology, what happens when it goes out? This week, a major outage at Amazon's Cloud Computing Network caused many of its services to be down for hours, including Ring doorbells. In this case, Lt. Kevan Anderson with Garner police says it’s back to the old ways.

“Know when packages are being arriving, track them when they can. If they know when they’ll be there, have a neighbor pick them up. One of the other things we talk about is have the package delivered to your work” Anderson said.

Garner police also has a partnership with the Ring Neighbors app. It allows neighbors to share videos on the app and communicate with others in the community, as well as police.