‘Glaring crisis’: Postal service blasted for poor policing amid crime wave

The United States Government Accountability Office has released a critical report about the U.S. Postal Service, bolstering the findings of a recent Raw Story investigation that details a dramatic spike in crime against letter carriers.

The Government Accountability Office found that “serious crime” — including homicides, assaults, burglaries and robberies — nearly doubled during a six-year span, from 656 in 2017 to 1,198 in 2023. Robberies alone grew nearly sevenfold between fiscal years 2019 through 2023, according to the report.

Raw Story found that letter carrier robberies skyrocketed by 543 percent between 2019 and 2022, coinciding with the timing of a 2020 Postal Service decision that effectively benched its uniformed police force of 450 officers. The decision resulted in the officers losing their mandate to patrol the streets where letter carriers deliver the mail and these robberies often occur. They’re now relegated to protecting postal facilities, such as mail sorting centers and post offices.

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“The rise in serious crime against USPS employees is a very serious issue. Letter carriers have been robbed at gunpoint, putting their safety and the security of the mail they carry at risk,” David Marroni, director, physical infrastructure, for the Government Accountability Office, told Raw Story via email. “Even in cases where there is no physical injury, such incidents can have a negative effect on individual victims as well as the USPS workforce and can result in trauma and stress.”

The Government Accountability Office made three formal recommendations for the Chief Postal Inspector involving better workforce evaluation procedures for its postal police officers and postal inspectors.

In a written response, the Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the Postal Service, agreed to address the recommendations.

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The Government Accountability Office found the Postal Inspection Service lacking in its documented processes, which could “help the Inspection Service ensure it allocates law enforcement resources according to mission needs,” the report said. The report also found the Postal Inspection Service had not assessed the size and location of its postal police workforce since 2011.

“Given the recent upward trend in serious crime against USPS employees, it is important that the agency do so to better ensure its workforce decisions to address serious crime are sound and that its law enforcement resources are aligned with current security needs,” Marroni said. “We will monitor USPIS’s actions to implement our recommendations and hope the agency does so in full.”

Internal discord

Amid this crime spike, the Postal Service and the Postal Police Officers Association union have been embroiled in an unresolved, four-year-long dispute about the use of postal police officers off Postal Service property.

Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association, called the Government Accountability Office’s report “brutal.”

“It shows, quite frankly, the incompetence of the Inspection Service,” Albergo told Raw Story in a phone interview. “They have a mail theft epidemic on their hands, and they have letter carriers being robbed, and they haven't realigned resources at all? I mean, that's amazing stuff.”

Albergo said after reading the report that he is “a little worried, to be honest, because the Inspection Service is not a rational actor at this point.”

“Somehow they're going to figure out that they need fewer officers," Albergo said, noting that only two basic training sessions for postal police officers are scheduled for 2025.

A spokesperson for the Postal Service did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

The Government Accountability Office’s audit was conducted between January 2023 to May 2024, requested by six Democratic members of Congress: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA).

Connolly told Raw Story via a statement that serious crimes against Postal Service employees have “skyrocketed.”

“Clearly, this is a serious issue that demands the attention of Congress. That’s why we requested this report from GAO and it’s why several relevant pieces of legislation have been introduced already, including the Postal Police Reform Act which I am proud to cosponsor,” Connolly said.

There are two versions of the Postal Police Reform Act, one in each chamber. Another bill, the Protect our Letter Carriers Act, was introduced in March by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Greg Landsman (D-OH) to increase punishments for those who assault letter carriers.

The bill also aims to replace outdated mailboxes and their keys, which are often targeted in robberies. A single Postal Service “arrow key” may open numerous mailboxes, making them an attractive prize for robbers.

“The GAO report offers several important steps that USPS can take right now to better document and prevent crimes committed against postal employees and properties. USPS should follow these recommendations without delay,” Connolly said. “I will continue to work with my colleagues to determine the best legislative path forward to address this glaring crisis and protect our dedicated postal employees.”

Norton, one of the co-sponsors of the Postal Police Reform Act, said the issue of mail crime is “a matter throughout the country,” noting that mail theft remains a “very significant problem” in the Washington, D.C., area.

When asked if the report will spur Congress to act, Norton told Raw Story in a phone interview, “I believe we will be able to get this done.”

“The GAO report does highlight, once again, the need for postal police reform,” Norton said. “Since 2020 the postal police have been confined to their physical facilities. My bill extends the police jurisdiction beyond police property. That's where they need to be.”

Hoyer, the Democratic ranking member on the Financial Services and General Government subcommittee for the House Committee on Appropriations, said it was important for him to join a bipartisan group of legislators to call on the Government Accountability Office to look into the Postal Inspection Service.

“I am greatly disturbed by the recent increase in violent attacks against letter carriers,” Hoyer told Raw Story in a statement. “Congress has a responsibility to ensure the USPS is safe and functional — both for the security of all postal workers and the millions of Americans who rely on mail service.”

The congressional office for Raskin, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, referred Raw Story to a Democratic spokesperson for the Oversight Committee, who did not respond by the time of publication.

The congressional offices for Brown and Porter did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.