A United States Postal Service mailbox stands along Bonnie Brae Boulevard Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in southeast Denver. The U.S. Postal Service says law enforcement officials have charged more than 600 people with postal crimes since launching a crackdown in May. The so-called “Operation Safe Delivery” follows a surge in robberies. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)
By David Sharp
With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday.
Criminals are both stealing mail and targeting carriers' so-called “arrow keys” to get access to mailboxes.
“We will continue to turn up the pressure and put potential perpetrators on notice: If you’re attacking postal employees, if you steal the mail or commit other postal crimes, postal inspectors will bring you to justice,” Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale told reporters on Wednesday.
The Postal Service announcement on Wednesday came against a backdrop of rallies by the National Association of Letter Carriers calling for better protection of carriers and harsh punishment for criminals who rob them. They've been held across the country in recent months, including one Tuesday in Denver and another Wednesday in Houston.
Letter carriers are on edge after nearly 500 of them were robbed last year. Criminals increasingly targeted the mail to commit financial crimes like altering checks to obtain money.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement that it’s important to protect the “sanctity of the nation’s mail” but that his top priority is the safety of those delivering it.
To reduce robberies, the Postal Service is in the process of replacing tens of thousands of postal carriers’ universal keys that are sought by criminals seeking to steal mail to commit check fraud, officials said. So far, 6,500 of the keys have been replaced with electronic locks in select cities, and another 42,500 are set to be deployed, officials said. The Postal Service has declined to say how many of the arrow keys are in service.
To prevent mail theft, the Postal Service also has deployed more than 10,000 high-security blue boxes in high-risk locations to prevent criminals from fishing out the mail.
The Postal Service also implemented changes that reduced fraudulent change-of-a-address transactions by 99.3% over the past fiscal year, and they’ve reduced counterfeit postage by 50%, as well, officials said.
The Postal Service is touting its successes after a critical report by its own watchdog, the Office of Inspector General. Issued late last month, it faulted management for a lack of “actionable milestones,” accountability for staffing and training, and upgrading carriers’ universal keys.
The Postal Service has its own police force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is leading the effort with other internal units and outside law enforcement agencies. Early efforts focused on organized mail crime in Chicago, San Francisco and several cities across Ohio.
Of the 600 arrests made since May as part of “Operation Safe Delivery,” more than 100 were for robberies while more than 530 were for mail theft, officials said.
The penalty is steep for interfering with the mail.
Theft alone can be punished by up to five years in prison; possession or disposal of postal property carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Assaulting a mail carrier can also lead to a 10-year sentence for a first-time offense. Repeat offenders can get 25 years for an assault.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
