DAYTON — The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has changed its focus on fighting mail theft, choosing to go after “those at the top of criminal organizations who are robbing letter carriers, stealing mail and perpetrating financial crimes,” a spokeswoman with the inspection service’s Cincinnati Field Office told News Center 7.
>> Ohio Republicans introduce legislation to restrict drag shows
The inspection service’s comments were made in response to John Bedell, News Center 7 I-TEAM investigative reporter, who began asking questions after the service’s fiscal year 2022 report, which indicated that arrests for mail theft have dropped the last five years. The report did not jibe with what agency leaders told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing last September, that mail thefts are on the rise.
Nicole Lutz, postal inspector and spokeswoman with the Cincinnati Field Office USPIS, said, “Many courts are still working through a backlog of cases coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As far as the number of mail theft arrests declining, the number of cases initiated stays more constant (1,278 in 2019 and 1,124 in 2022),” Lutz said.
“As the Inspection Service has noted before, the type of mail theft crime we see has changed over the past few years. What we see more frequently now is a more organized approach to mail theft, with more large volume attacks on mail receptacles than in prior years.
“Our agency is prioritizing high quality, high impact cases and arrests. Instead of charging and arresting individual actors, and those low on the criminal organization hierarchy, we strive to develop cases to charge and arrest those at the top of criminal organizations who are robbing letter carriers, stealing mail and perpetrating financial crimes.”
Frank Albergo, head of the Postal Police Officers Association, said, “I’m not quite sure what the inspection service is doing at this point. They’re certainly not doing enough to stop this mail theft epidemic.
“The inspection service has pivoted to narcotics interdiction. Secondly, the benching of the US Postal Police force. Third, they basically destroyed their partnerships with local law enforcement by benching the police force,” he said.
“So arrest numbers have plummeted. And . . . who who’s suffering? It’s the American people who are suffering,” Albergo said.
Postal police officers have said they want to be reassigned to help fight mail theft. Their union has sued the U.S. Postal Service in an attempt to regain the authority to protect letter carriers on their routes. That protection was stopped for more than two years, according to the lawsuit.
The U.S. Postal Service previously has refused comment about the issue of protecting letter carriers because of the ongoing lawsuit.