Officials: Don't advertise your Christmas presents to thieves

Now that Christmas presents have been opened, police are warning people about the boxes and labels it came with.

The season of giving is coming to an end and law enforcement officials are advising against placing those labeled boxes out on the curb too early for garbage collection. If you do, it can make you a target, they say.

It's an easy way for thieves to discover all the new, and maybe expensive, items they can steal from your home, and the biggest target are perhaps TV boxes. Thieves take this time to drive through a neighborhood and find homes they can target later.

The best advice is to take the boxes to a recycling center or cut them up into smaller sections to fit in trash cans. Another option is to place the packaging either the night prior to collection or, better yet, the same morning.