Chicago’s Postal Inspector in Cost mentioned the mission of the postal police stays the identical: defend workers, clients and property.
“In any state of affairs the place somebody takes one thing from you, you are feeling violated,” retired mail service Alvin Charleston mentioned.
He recalled being robbed of his mail keys on his Chicago route.
“As he approached me he mentioned give me your keys, and that is when he confirmed me the weapon he had,” he mentioned.
“So these keys. They’re known as arrow keys, they usually open up all blue assortment bins, all residence panels, cluster bins in a given zip code,” mentioned Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Affiliation.
“They’re straightforward targets. Carriers aren’t carrying weapons,” mentioned retired Postal Police Officer James Bjork.
He mentioned defending carriers on their routes was once a part of his job as a postal police officer.
“The officers on the day shift and afternoon shift would do letter service safety patrols,” he mentioned.
That modified in 2020 when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service clarified the regulation figuring out jurisdiction for postal law enforcement officials, limiting them to its service amenities, regardless that they’re sworn federal regulation enforcement officers.
“The jurisdiction stays the identical. The necessity to have them at our amenities, offering that safety side is paramount to our total mission. So , I do not assume the jurisdiction has modified. We, we, , we re-examined it, received clarification. And now we’re centered on that,” mentioned Invoice Hedrick, Inspector in Cost, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Chicago.
“It might be like telling Chicago police, keep within the police station,” mentioned Bjork.
“What they’ve performed is shift the burden to native police departments,” mentioned Albergo. “Native police departments clearly produce other issues to fret about.”
The postal service has not escaped the present crime development. The president of Chicago’s letter carriers union mentioned a postal employee was robbed of their keys at gunpoint on Monday within the Roseland neighborhood.
An I-Crew information evaluation reveals in 2020, the Postal Inspection Service responded to greater than 7,000 experiences nationwide of violent crimes in opposition to postal workers. Since October, greater than 165 letter carriers, together with many within the Chicago space, have been victims of armed robberies, a big improve since 2019.
From March 2020 to February 2021, there have been 753 postal inspection service mail fraud circumstances and 1,090 postal inspection service mail theft circumstances. The Chicago division dealt with 39 mail fraud circumstances throughout that very same time interval, up from 29 from the yr earlier than. As for theft circumstances, they dealt with 44, down from 54.
In line with Hinsdale Police, a person with a gun took a service’s keys final Monday close to Stough and Hinsdale Avenue. No arrests have been made. The police report says the stolen secret’s a “sequence 76 key and will open all of the mailboxes” in Oak Brook, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge and a part of Willowbrook.
Investigators say these keys promote for as a lot as $7,000.
“Any crime related to the Postal Service, our workers, or our clients that includes the mail is a precedence for us,” mentioned Hedrick.
“They’ve decimated our ranks by 20% since 2019,” mentioned Albergo.
Chicago’s Inspector in Cost saidthat’s not the case.
“The complement for Chicago has remained the identical over the past 10 years for postal law enforcement officials,” Hedrick mentioned.
A brand new coaching class of postal law enforcement officials is meant to start in August. The primary for the reason that starting of the pandemic.
“We exist to guard postal workers and the mail,” mentioned Albergo. “However now we’re being handcuffed to postal amenities.”
“The administration’s duty is to make sure the protection of his workers,” mentioned retired mail service Charleston.
The postal service is at the moment in contract negotiations with the union for postal police. Its members are additionally attempting to get a invoice handed in Congress to revive their jurisdictional authority, which might enable them to as soon as once more patrol outdoors postal amenities.
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