Postal Police Relying on Decade Old Information as Crime Spikes: GAO
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is essentially in the dark when it comes to knowing the law enforcement needs of its workforce, and that could leave USPS workers dangerously vulnerable to crime, especially as crime rises against postal employees.
That’s the conclusion of a new audit from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has not assessed size and location of its postal police workforce since 2011.
“The size and location of the postal police workforce are still informed by 2011 information, such as crime rates from that time,” GAO wrote, adding that it’s unclear when a review will be undertaken, and until one is, USPIS “will rely on outdated information to determine how to align its postal police workforce with current security needs.”
That presents a significant problem, since GAO found that the number of serious crimes against postal employees, doubled from 2019-2023, growing from 600 to nearly 1200 cases. Robberies of postal workers grew nearly sevenfold in that time frame. The robberies generally target letter carriers and the universal keys which USPS employees use to open mailboxes.
Firearms were also increasingly used in the crimes.
Documentation in Question
GAO faulted USPS and USPIS for not maintaining a formal process for documenting the size and local of its postal police and postal inspector workforce.
While a review is conducted, there is no formal guidebook on how to conduct that review.
“Documenting workforce decision-making processes could help the Inspection Service ensure it allocates law enforcement resources according to mission needs,” said the report.
USPIS officials agreed with GAO’s recommendations on documentation and are planning to conduct a new assessment of their security force, although USPIS could not provide a timeline.
Meanwhile, USPS has taken other steps to try and fight crime.
It’s installed 49,000 electronic locks on collection boxes in several cities. Criminals are targeting those universal keys to get access to the mailboxes. Many of them go on to commit check, identity, and other types of fraud.