Mail thefts and postal carrier robberies are on the rise so the United States Postal Service is making strides to improve the safety of the mail and its carriers.
More than 600 people have been arrested for postal crimes across the nation since May 2023.
Criminals are committing financial crimes with stolen mail by altering checks to obtain money. Nearly 500 letter carriers were robbed in 2022, so the Postal Service is in the process of replacing thousands of postal carriers’ universal keys. So far, 6,500 of the keys have been replaced with electronic locks in select cities.
To prevent mail theft, the Postal Service also has deployed more than 10,000 high-security blue boxes in high-risk locations to prevent people from breaking into them. The mail openings are only big enough for envelopes, so people have to take their larger packages inside the post office.
The penalty is steep for interfering with the mail. Theft 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.
Source: WDRB
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