Worse than rain, snow, heat
Letter carrier robberies surge as US Postal Service, union, lawmakers look for solutions
When the U.S. Postal Service launched Project Safe Delivery last year, officials pledged they would be “doubling down” on their efforts to combat growing rates of letter carrier robberies.
The crackdown has led to hundreds of arrests, and robberies slowed toward the end of the year. But, overall, the number of postal carriers who were robbed in 2023 rose again and the number who were injured nearly doubled as criminals continue to target carriers for their antiquated “arrow keys” that allow access to mailboxes.
This week, legislation was introduced in Congress to accelerate the replacement of tens of thousands of mailbox keys, boost prosecutions and review sentencing guidelines.
All of it can’t come soon enough for letter carriers. “We’re like sitting ducks out there,” said Houston mail carrier Tijuana Abbott, who accused postal leadership of failing to do enough to address the problem. “Enough is enough.”
Postal carrier robberies climbed to 643 last year, an increase of nearly 30%, and the number of robberies resulting in injuries doubled to 61 last year, according to figures provided by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. All told, robberies grew sixfold over the past decade and the number of postal carriers held at gunpoint increased even more, according to an analysis of the postal statistics.
Under Project Safe Delivery, launched last May, there have been more than 1,200 arrests for mail thefts and letter carrier robberies. The Postal Inspection Service also conducted targeted law enforcement surges in trouble spots including Chicago, San Francisco and cities across Ohio.
The effort also included the deployment of more than 10,000 high-security blue boxes in high-risk locations, and the installation of nearly 30,000 electronic locks on mail receptacles.
There is a glimmer of hope. Postal robberies dipped 19% over the past five months, while arrests for letter carrier robberies grew 73% so far in the 2024 fiscal year, said Jeff Adams, postal service spokesperson.
“We have been unrelenting in our pursuit of criminals who target postal employees and the U.S. mail. The efforts of our postal inspectors and law enforcement partners have yielded positive results,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said. “We are not done.”
Postal leaders and the letter carrier union were incensed when a federal judge in San Francisco last month sentenced a man who held a gun to a postal carrier’s head to just 30 days behind bars.
DeJoy called it “unacceptable.” The leader of the letter carriers union called it “absolutely ludicrous.”
“Postal carriers should be able to do their job without any concern of someone putting a gun in their face or in any way assaulting them while they’re just trying to do their job and deliver to the American people their mail,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, whose district in southern Ohio dealt with growing postal carrier robberies.
In addition to being traumatizing for letter carriers, Parker said the robberies represent a “threat to democracy” because in addition to envelopes containing personal checks, prescriptions and other important items, many now use the mail to send in their ballots.