The number of mail carriers being robbed while doing their jobs across the United States is rising, sparking concerns from the public.
After the Biden administration ordered roll back the cash bail, defund the law enforcement and grant prisoners early release, the country is getting more dangerous for mail carriers.
Last Friday evening, a mail carrier was robbed at gunpoint for his keys in the Pleasure Ridge Park neighborhood, Louisville.
According to the police, the preliminary investigation revealed that the US Postal worker was walking his route along 7800 block of Bramble Lane around 5 p.m.
when the two men robbed him and demanded his mail truck and personal keys at gunpoint.
Early August, a man from Columbus was sentenced to prison for robbing two postal carriers in separate incidents at gunpoint last September.
The suspect, identified as 21-year old Brandon J. Campbell was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
Moreover, last July, another mail carrier was robbed in the Chatham City Apartments on Augusta Road in Garden City and the US Postal Inspection Service offered a $50,000 reward to capture the suspect.
In data released by NBC 4-Washington, the investigation discovered that over 2,000 assaults or robberies of postal carriers had occurred since 2020.
The inspector general for USPS also released a statement and revealed that mail theft complaints have increased by 161% from March 2020 to February 2021.
“At this point, armed robberies of USPS letter carriers and mail theft are the norm, rather than the exception,” Postal Police Officers Association President Frank Albergo said in a statement.
Moreover, another data obtained by NBC News in April also revealed that the number of letter carrier robberies nationwide has jumped from 80 in 2018 to 261 in 2021.
The data also found that the number of armed robberies reported also increased and quadrupled from 36 in 2018 to 154 in 2021.
According to Albergo, the attacks started after the number of postal police officers being assigned to patrol areas prone to mail theft and attacks was reduced.
In August 2020, the Postal Service essentially “defunded its own uniformed police force in the midst of a mail theft epidemic after it reinterpreted a statute regarding mail route patrols.”
Moreover, South Florida mail carrier Travis Garris also blasted the government after a carrier who filled in on his day off was also assaulted while on duty.
According to Garris, because USPS workers are federal employees, they are unable to carry a firearm for personal protection while working, even if they have a concealed weapons permit.
“We are not allowed to defend ourselves,” he said.
“We are basically sitting ducks,” he added.
Garris also revealed that following the reports of the recent attacks against mail carriers, some mail carriers are “genuinely afraid” to come to work.
Furthermore, amid the series of attacks, a spokesperson for the Postal Service Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of USPS released a statement, claiming that the agency works to “ensure America’s confidence in the U.S. Mail by enforcing more than 200 federal laws in investigations of crimes that may adversely affect postal employees or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail or the postal system.”
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service considers the security and sanctity of mail one of its highest priorities. Like the rest of the nation, crimes have increased, and the Postal Service has not been immune to it. However, the Postal Inspection Service takes seriously its role to safeguard America and will continue to aggressively pursue perpetrators who use the U.S. Mail system to further their illegal activity.” The agency said.
