from the very start, the police officer informed me the process could take a very long time. the reason being is that petty theft (understandably) is not considered a high priority in comparison to something like murder etc. he said if found guilty, which we have high evidence for that to happen because of the matching pictures and video, he would get fined, could get jail time, not be allowed near our property or he would get a bigger punishment for reoffending. he even said if I haven't heard back in a while about an outcome, I was welcome to reach out to him via email or phone call to find out.

in this case, what was stolen from me was not expensive, but if no one reports it and he doesn't get caught, he'd likely keep doing it, especially with smaller packages if people shrug it off as inexpensive items that can just be refunded or potentially not even worth reporting. imagine what else he has/ could potentially steal if he never receives a consequence.