SEATTLE, Wash — Postal workers are seeking more oversight after a recent rise in mail theft and related crime.
Another USPS mail truck was broken into this weekend, according to Kevin Gottlieb, the local president of the Association of Letter Carriers. He said it happened on Saturday in Auburn.
"When she got back to her truck, they had broken the window and stolen two trays of mail," said Gottlieb. "The crowbar was still laying in the truck.”
It comes after Seattle’s Postal Inspector John Wiegand told KING 5 mail theft has recently been on the rise in western Washington.
Gottlieb said, "Residential apartments, businesses-- they're going after all of them."
Gottlieb, who is also a longtime letter carrier himself, said the recent crime is putting letter carriers in some very dangerous situations.
"Had a carrier held at gunpoint in Lake City area," said Gottlieb.
He added, "In Federal Way, also, we had a carrier pull up to a 7-11 to get a drink. When he came out, they broke his windows. They were only in there like two minutes."
Gottlieb said it hasn't always been like this.
"Nowadays it's just-- it's just weekly," he said.
He is hopeful more can be done.
"More people out there keeping their eye on a letter carrier, the mail, the better," he said.
There used to be a uniformed security force called Postal Police, paid for and operated by the United States Postal Service (USPS). It was established in 1970 after the Postal Reorganization Act, added to assist in carrying out the Inspection Service's mission.
"There were 2,700 throughout the United States, in 66 cities," said Frank Albergo, the National President of the Postal Police Officers Association. "Slowly but surely, the Postal Service started basically downsizing our force."
Essentially they were defunded in 2020, and Albergo said he believes that is one reason for the uptick in mail theft nationally.
"They took away our arrest authority," he said.
Seattle has not had postal police since before 2005. They now only exist in 20 cities, but their powers are limited.
"We are now in the facilities and postal facilities, basically walking the workroom floor, you know, checking IDs. I mean, it's you know, we've now, like, been reduced to glorified security guards. It's an amazing situation," he said.
A spokesperson for the US Postal Inspector explained their reasoning.
"Questions were raised about whether these patrols conformed to the law and whether they were effective," said Michael Martel, National Public Information Officer for the US Postal Inspector. "Postal Inspection Service leadership began to comprehensively curtail the use of PPOs for law enforcement outside the immediate environs of Postal Service real property."
He added, "The Inspection Service already engages in off-site protection of the mail and our letter carriers. Postal inspectors, not PPOs, regularly conduct surveillance and appropriate enforcement actions in areas where high numbers of letter carrier robberies and mail thefts have been reported."
But Albergo says the question remains.
"Call Congress, call your representative, and say, you know, 'The Postal Service has a police force. Why isn't it being used?'" said Albergo.
In the meantime, Gottlieb wants to remind you to collect your mail as frequently as possible for its own protection, and to put your mail on hold if you’re going out of town.