Having postal police on patrol could make the job safer for mail carriers

A U.S. Postal Service van drives by the scene where a mail carrier was shot near Kildare and Melrose in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood Aug. 1. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

According to the U.S. Postal Service’s famous but unofficial motto, “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Weather conditions might not challenge the nation’s mail carriers, but as of late, crimes against them have.

Across the country, armed robberies of letter carriers have leapt from 36 in 2018 to 154 in 2021, according to the Postal Inspection Service.

The job of catching the bad guys and keeping postal workers safe on their routes largely falls to local police departments.

But U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, and nine other Democratic and Republican lawmakers last month introduced federal legislation aimed at better protecting mail carriers by putting more U.S. Postal Service Police officers on the street.

Called the Postal Police Reform Act, it’s a good bill that deserves to be signed into law. Postal police — uniformed officers with squad cars and full law enforcement powers — used to patrol the streets to help protect postal employees and mail.

But under a directive by U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, officers are currently restricted to protecting the agency’s buildings and properties.

“The Postal Service decided to bench the postal police force,” Frank Albergo, the National President for the Postal Police Officers Association, said. “They stripped us of our jurisdictional authority and basically relegated us to protecting buildings. We no longer can protect the mail, and we no longer can protect letter carriers.”

It’s time to free up the officers and put them on patrol.

Protecting letter carriers

Chicago is no stranger to the uptick in crimes against postal workers.

A mail carrier making her rounds was robbed at gunpoint in the Chatham neighborhood last September. And last month, Chicagoan Devan Flax, 20, was charged with robbing two postal workers in separate instances in the suburb of Forest Park.

In many cases, armed robbers target letter carriers for their “arrow keys” — a universal key that opens up the blue curbside mail collection boxes.

A mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service uses his master key as he delivers mail in the 3800 block of South Wabash Avenue on the South Side. Carriers have been robbed of their master keys. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file)

And the stolen keys themselves are valuable to crooks who buy and sell them for thousands of dollars.

“Letter carriers deserve to feel safe while on the job, and the Postal Police Reform Act will ensure that Postal Police Officers can adequately protect letter carriers from the real threats on their routes,” Durbin said when the bill was introduced Nov. 29.

Said Duckworth: “Our hardworking mail carriers deserve to feel safe and protected as they carry out vital delivery services trusted by Veterans, small businesses and all Americans to connect them with families, communities and services throughout the nation.”

DeJoy strikes again

If there’s a flaw in the bill, it’s that it doesn’t call for an increase in the nation’s uniformed postal police.

The force once stood at 2,700 officers in decades past. There are about 450 now. There used to be 150 officers in the Chicago region, but there are only about 15 today.

Meanwhile, there are 1,200 postal inspectors, the agency’s respected plainclothes investigators.

DeJoy turned the uniformed police force into security guards in 2020, claiming — for reasons unknown — the agency doesn’t “have the authority to patrol the streets.”

It wouldn’t be the postal service’s first blunder under the ruinous leadership of DeJoy, a President Donald Trump appointee who’s held on to his job despite having openly sought to slow the mail to assist his then-boss’ reelection in 2020.

DeJoy also seeks to “save” the postal service by cutting post office hours, lengthening delivery times, raising postage prices and imposing other austerity measures.

Chicago Police officers place a mail bag in an evidence bag after the shooting of a mail carrier near Kildare and Melrose in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood Aug. 1. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Neutering the postal police would be right up DeJoy’s alley, given his track record.

“It’s shameful that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues to turn a blind eye to the rampant and violent crimes against his employees,” Durbin said.

For its part, the Postal Service earlier this year instituted Operation Safe Delivery, a crackdown the agency says has resulted in 600 arrests, including 100 for robbery and at least 530 for mail theft.

But much more can be done. And it starts with signing the Postal Police Reform Act into law.

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