A United States Postal Service mailbox stands alongside Bonnie Brae Boulevard Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in southeast Denver.

David Zalubowski/AP

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David Zalubowski/AP

A United States Postal Service mailbox stands alongside Bonnie Brae Boulevard Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in southeast Denver.

David Zalubowski/AP

With mail theft and postal provider robberies up, legislation enforcement officers have made greater than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to deal with crime that features carriers being accosted at gunpoint for his or her antiquated common keys, the Postal Service introduced Wednesday.

Criminals are each stealing mail and concentrating on carriers’ so-called “arrow keys” to get entry 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 advised reporters on Wednesday.

The Postal Service announcement on Wednesday got here in opposition to a backdrop of rallies by the National Association of Letter Carriers calling for higher safety of carriers and harsh punishment for criminals who rob them. They’ve been held throughout the nation in current months, together with one Tuesday in Denver and one other Wednesday in Houston.

“Postal carriers have to keep their head on a swivel. They have to take precautions to be extra vigilant with their surroundings,” Rick Byrne, president of the Colorado State Association of Letter Carriers, stated Wednesday.

Letter carriers are on edge after almost 500 of them had been robbed final 12 months. Criminals more and more focused the mail to commit monetary crimes like altering checks to acquire cash.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy stated in a press release that it is vital to guard the “sanctity of the nation’s mail” however that his high precedence is the security of these delivering it.

To cut back robberies, the Postal Service is within the technique of changing tens of hundreds of postal carriers’ common keys which might be sought by criminals searching for to steal mail to commit test fraud, officers stated. So far, 6,500 of the keys have been changed with digital locks in choose cities, and one other 42,500 are set to be deployed, officers stated. The Postal Service has declined to say how most of the arrow keys are in service.

To stop mail theft, the Postal Service additionally has deployed greater than 10,000 high-security blue bins in high-risk places to stop folks from breaking into them.

The Postal Service additionally carried out modifications that diminished fraudulent change-of-a-address transactions by 99.3% over the previous fiscal 12 months, and so they’ve diminished counterfeit postage by 50%, as effectively, officers stated.

The Postal Service is touting its successes after a essential report by its personal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General. Issued late final month, it faulted administration for a scarcity of “actionable milestones,” accountability for staffing and coaching, and upgrading carriers’ common keys.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is main the hassle with different inner items and out of doors legislation enforcement companies. Early efforts centered on organized mail crime in Chicago, San Francisco and several other cities throughout Ohio.

Of the 600-plus arrests made since May as a part of “Operation Safe Delivery,” greater than 100 had been for robberies whereas greater than 530 had been for mail theft, officers advised reporters Wednesday.

The penalty is steep for interfering with the mail.

Theft alone may be punished by as much as 5 years in jail; possession or disposal of postal property carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. Assaulting a mail provider may result in a 10-year sentence for a first-time offense. Repeat offenders can get 25 years for an assault.