Dozens of Amazon packages were found in a garbage bin at a Massachusetts cemetery Monday, but the Burlington Police Department is taking on some delivery rounds to make sure they make it to their destination, officers said.
The officers' double-duty earned the appreciation of Amazon, which said the person who was originally responsible for the packages has been let go.
"While package delivery isn't really our specialty, we wanted to ensure that the people in our community who were expecting these items received them without too much delay," Chief Michael Kent said in a news release.
The discarded packages were discovered before 9 a.m. by a "diligent" groundskeeper at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Burlington, police said.
"To ensure that everyone gets their merchandise in a timely fashion (and without too much red tape!) we are delivering the packages to the proper addresses," the department said in a tweet.
The boxes and parcels appeared to all have Amazon logos in the photos that police shared — Lt. Glen Mills said the images were to protect the recipients' privacy.
There were 40-50 in all, and a few were already opened, Mills said.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
Officers had already already dropped off a" good number of them" by Monday afternoon, taking advantage of a fairly quiet morning, Mills said.
"They're out on patrol and if they don't have any calls or anything, they can drop them off here or there," he said.
An Amazon representative said the company appreciates the support from the police in this case.
"This situation does not reflect the high standards we have for delivery partners, and the individual involved is no longer delivering Amazon packages," the representative said.