Mail carriers hold rally raising awareness of attacks and robberies
According to the NALC, more than 2,000 mail carriers nationwide have been attacked while on their route since 2020. Now, members want lawmakers to deliver changes.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A call for support from mail carriers took place at the Capitol Thursday. Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers spoke out about the rise in attacks and robberies.
According to the NALC, more than 2,000 mail carriers nationwide have been attacked while on their route since 2020. Now, members want lawmakers to deliver changes.
"Simply asking folks out of the community to look out for us," Brian Renfroe, President of the National Association of Letter Carriers said. "Something as simple as watching your letter carrier walk down to the end of the block sometimes could be the difference from one of these crimes happening at night."
Renfroe says it only takes a couple minutes to keep your eye out, and to possibly save a life.
"Most importantly, if you see something out of the ordinary, whatever it may be, that's alarming, do not hesitate to contact law enforcement," Renfroe said.
The stories of the terrible attacks that have happened have stuck with mail carriers, making it hard for them to get out of bed for work.
"Every morning I wake up, I worry like hopefully I can get that route done today and nothing crazy happens," Matt Dennis, Sgt. at Arms for the National Association of Letter Carriers at Branch 458 said.
Dennis says they have obstacles they go through for every route; having to look over their shoulder after every house shouldn't be an added concern.
"This job is not easy to begin with, let alone you're dealing with dogs, the weather and everything that goes with it," Dennis said.
While they are asking residents to keep an eye out for them, they are also asking legislators to make a change.
"We are very close to having some federal legislation that'll be bipartisan in nature, introduce that legislation to do a number of things," Renfroe said. "It is going to assist the Postal Service in using a technology solution to better secure the ways we access mail. It is going to designate someone to prosecute these cases in all 93 of the United States attorney's offices, which would be a big step forward."
Renfroe says only 14% of cases involving mail carriers being attacked have resulted in an arrest or federal prosecution. He says that is unacceptable, and something needs to be done.