“As our nation continues to address a sustained crime wave, our targeted focus to crack down on postal crime is progressing. The safety of our letter carriers — and all postal employees — is our top priority. We will continue to work steadfastly with our law enforcement partners to increase the safety of our employees and protect the sanctity of the nation’s mail.”
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
A significant increase in crimes against mail carriers and crimes involving mail theft caused the US Postal Service to create Project Safe Delivery campaign in May of 2023. the program originally focused on San Francisco, Chicago, and three towns in Ohio. Since then, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has made 109 arrests for robberies and more than 530 arrests for mail theft.
A recent announcement was made October 25, detailing actions the USPS and the Postal Inspection Service have taken to address postal crimes nationwide. Those actions include:
- Installation of 10,000 High-Security Blue Collection Boxes
- Ongoing Replacement of Antiquated Arrow Locks with Electronic Locks
- Reduction in Fraudulent Change of Address Submissions
- Reduction in Counterfeit Package Postage in Postal Network
Perhaps the most notable action has been the increase of monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a perpetrator of mail crime. The reward for arrest and conviction for murder or manslaughter of a Postal Service employee or Contractor has been raised to $250,000. The reward for theft of Mail or Postal Service Property has been increased to $100,000.