WASHINGTON (CN) — Illinois Senator Dick Durbin queried the U.S. Postal Service and federal law enforcement Tuesday about efforts to stem crime perpetrated against federal letter carriers, sounding the alarm about what he said could be the dangerous knock-on effect of such activity.
“[V]iolence against letter carriers, theft of mail, and any related crimes that result from the theft of mail are unacceptable and must be stopped,” the Democratic majority whip told Attorney General Merrick Garland and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in a letter.
Driving home his point, Durbin cited a recent set of incidents in his home state of Illinois: A postal worker was shot during an armed robbery and two others were robbed at gunpoint in Chicago over the course of two days.
Crimes, particularly robberies, committed against postal workers have spiked in recent months.
The Postal Service reported in May that 305 letter carriers had been robbed on the job in the first half of this year. That figure appears on track to outpace the 412 or so robbery incidents throughout 2022.
Theft from mailboxes and Postal Service drop boxes is also on the rise, the agency said — with 25,000 incidents so far this year.
Durbin said he was concerned about what he called “brazen criminal activity and its impact on victims,” but also told Garland and DeJoy that he was worried that threatening letter carriers could pose other, more institutional consequences. For one, the increasingly dangerous conditions of postal work could push employees out of the service. And rising crime could turn certain neighborhoods into what he called delivery deserts, where residents can’t rely on the Postal Service to deliver critical items such as medication or food.
The Illinois Democrat also pointed out that rising crime against letter carriers threatens the postal system at a time when residents vote increasingly via mail-in ballot in some areas.
“Ballots may not be the target of mail thieves, but they could easily get swept up in letters stolen from carriers or collection boxes,” Durbin wrote. “Every time a ballot is not delivered to its intended location, a voter is disenfranchised, and confidence in the outcome of our elections is undermined.”
The top Senate Democrat requested that the Justice Department and Postal Service provide an update on efforts to ensure letter carriers' safety. In particular, Durbin asked for the results of Project Safe Delivery — a Postal Service initiative aimed at updating the agency’s security practices — and requested information about ongoing efforts to prosecute crimes against postal workers.
This is Durbin’s second information request related to postal worker robberies. The lawmaker in April questioned federal officials about the issue, and while the Postal Service responded with information about its own security efforts, the Justice Department “did not provide an informative response” about its own undertakings.
For months the Illinois Democrat has sounded the alarm about threats to letter carriers and has criticized Postmaster General DeJoy for what he sees as a failure to act.
“It’s shameful that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and USPS leadership continues to turn a blind eye to the rampant crimes against their employees,” Durbin said in February after a meeting with National Association of Letter Carriers president Brian Renfroe. “Letter carriers perform an essential service of our government, but delivering mail has become an increasingly dangerous job.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment. A Postal Service representative also did not immediately return a request for comment.
In May the agency said that Project Safe Delivery would “harden physical targets against criminal activity and reduce criminal acts against postal employees.” Among the initiative’s measures, the Postal Service said it would install 12,000 high security mail collection boxes in high-risk areas across the country.
The project also aimed to do away with a mailbox lock system known as an arrow lock. Criminals target postal workers to steal arrow lock keys, which can be used to unlock secure receptacles that hold checks or other financial information. The Postal Service plans to replace nearly 50,000 arrow locks with electronic systems to make arrow keys less valuable to criminals, the agency has said.
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