Crimes against letter carriers in particular have been a growing concern. Image: Ray Larsen/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe USPS has cited steps taken to date under its Project Safe Delivery, started in May to deter crimes against its employees and postal operations, saying that in that time the Postal Inspection Service has made more than 100 arrests for robberies and more than 500 for mail theft.
Many of those arrests resulted from a law enforcement surge involving the Inspection Service and other law enforcement entities in “major metropolitan regions facing significant threats from organized postal crime” including Chicago, San Francisco and cities across Ohio, it said.
Crimes against letter carriers in particular have been a growing concern, involving not only robberies of mail but also of “arrow locks” for opening street side mail boxes. Some 6,500 of them have been replaced with electronic locks—again, focusing on high-crime areas–with plans for replacing an additional 42,500, it said.
Also since May some 10,000 boxes have been replaced with higher-security boxes, a process that also is continuing, it said. “In specific locations where a blue box is a repeated crime target and/or mail density is very low, collection boxes may have to be removed entirely when access is not meaningfully diminished due to nearby access points,” it said.
Other steps include increasing rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons for offenses against Postal Service employees; increasing training of employees on safety and preventing mail theft’ strengthening the authentication process for change of address applications; and enhancing detection of counterfeit postage.
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