HOUSTON – Local mail carriers are asking for more protections after an uptick of violent attacks against them in the Houston area this year.
More than 25 assaults or robberies have happened since January, usually with a gun, according to leaders with the National Association of Letter Carriers.
“Today seems to be open season on letter carriers,” National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 283 President Willie Ferguson said at a rally Wednesday night.
It’s a trend in Houston and cities across the country, according to union leaders, that they believe was born out of the pandemic.
The U.S. Postal Service said master keys are often sought by criminals to steal mail and commit other financial crimes.
As part of a nationwide crackdown on mail-related crimes, to devalue the keys, the USPS has installed more than 6,000 electronic locks with plans to add more than 42,000 more across the country.
“We continue to turn up the pressure and put potential perpetrators on notice; If you attack Postal employees, steal the mail, or commit other postal crimes, Postal Inspectors will bring you to justice,” Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale said in a statement.
But union leaders want more to be done, including federal prosecutors prioritizing cases involving violence against mail carriers and more resources at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the federal law enforcement arm of the postal service, to investigate the crimes.
“Armed robberies, assaults, shootings and even murder have become part of our job. It should not be this way,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian Renfroe said at the rally. “We are the people that serve our communities and we have a right on the job to be safe and to be protected.”
Local letter carrier Ulysses Wells got targeted by three thieves out of nowhere while working his route in northwest Harris County last year.
“There’s nothing like being out trying to do your job and have someone to come up on you with a gun,” Wells said.
He has been a letter carrier for 15 years and still feels the fear from that day, even after being moved to a new route in a different part of the city.
“The car just drove up. The individuals jumped out, they attacked me for a key,” he said. “I’m still nervous and frustrated ... We want to go home safe.”
According to the USPS, targeted law enforcement operations in other metro areas have been ongoing since May, resulting in hundreds of arrests, but Houston was not an area of focus.
A spokesperson for the USPIS told KPRC 2 these types of crimes receive the highest level of response and attention to prosecute individuals responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
Anyone who has information related to mail crimes should contact the USPIS hotline at 877-876-2455. If anyone appears to be following a mail carrier, suspicious activity should be reported to 911.