CLEVELAND — For nearly three years, News 5 has been telling you about the problem of mail being stolen from blue mailboxes using the universal "arrow" keys stolen from mail carriers.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
It's a problem that Frank Albergo, the head of the Postal Service Police Association, told News 5 in 2021, dates back to a 2020 directive to stop investigating mail theft off postal property.
“The postal service, inexplicably, decided to pull ppo’s off the street. They essentially defunded their own police force," he said.
And in limiting postal police to only postal property, Albergo argued, it gave thieves a green light.
"The most effective tool in fighting mail theft is the postal police officer—when we start patrolling an area where there is mail theft the mail theft essentially stops," said Albergo.
Senator Sherrod Brown and others in Congress have urged Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to reverse the policy to no avail, so this week, Brown joined eleven of his colleagues in introducing the bi-partisan Postal Police Reform Act, which would clear the way for Postal Police Officers to be assigned to duty outside of physical Post Office locations, helping to extend protection to letter carriers on their routes.
"Our reform act will bring it back to what it was," Brown told News 5. "This head of the Postal Service has been there far too long, several years now, needs to either change his policy or quit, one or the other. I don't care which we do, but we got to fix it."
News 5 reached out to the office of the Postmaster General for comment but did not hear back.
The Postal Inspection Service reports that armed robberies of letter carriers increased sharply between 2018 and 2021. Postal workers often carry “arrow” master keys, which can command thousands of dollars on the clandestine market because they allow access to cluster mailboxes and their contents on their routes.
“Too many Ohioans have had their mail stolen, and too many postal workers face threats on the job. Postal robberies and mail theft are federal crimes, and the responsibility to protect postal workers and their mail should not be pushed onto overwhelmed local law enforcement personnel across Ohio,” said Brown.
“Since Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has limited Postal Police Officers’ ability to do their jobs, this bill is necessary to empower the Postal Police to keep our postal workers safe and ensure Ohioans receive their mail.”
Specifically, the Postal Police Reform Act of 2023 would clarify provisions in federal law to ensure that Postal Police Officers may be assigned to duty outside of physical USPS locations for the purpose of protecting the mail, Postal Service property, persons on Postal Service property, and on-duty Postal Service employees. This clarification will allow the Postal Service to assign Postal Police Officers to protect letter carriers against robberies, which are often committed to stealing “arrow” master keys for use in later mail theft.
The Postal Police Reform Act provides the Postal Service with the flexibility to use the Postal Police as the service needs without imposing additional costs on the Postal Service.
In addition to Brown, the Postal Police Reform Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Angus King (I-ME).
