When a handful of West Philly residents sat down for a chat with a local police officer at the Calvary Center recently, little did they know that their tip would lead to an undercover operation that caught an alleged neighborhood package thief red handed.

A resident who lives near 45th and Regent told Lt. Brian McBride during a routine monthly meeting last Thursday that he found a package addressed to his wife that they had never received at a local thrift store. The next day McBride deployed plainclothes officers to the area. They arrested a man near 43rd and Larchwood after observing him remove packages from two doorsteps.

McBride, who works out of the 18th Police District’s University City Division, would not comment on the details of the operation.

McBride meets with residents every third Thursday of the month at the Calvary Center.

The resident who originally reported finding a package at a thrift store stressed that it was not The Second Mile.