On the anniversary of the murder of a local postal carrier, the News4 I-Team shows a never before released list of crimes committed against postal employees, including a dramatic increase in robberies.
It started out like any other February day for a well-known D.C. postal carrier who delivered the mail on Webster Street in Northeast. But that changed when, investigators say, two men robbed him at gunpoint before tying him up with duct tape, beating him and throwing him from his delivery van.
Neighbors like Bernard Wood Jr. were stunned at the violence of the crime. “I don’t understand why anybody would try to assault or hurt him.” But as they thought about it, those on his route like Sherri Wyatt realized he was an easy target. “Every day I know he’s going to be there,” she said. “I know what time.”
We only found out about this robbery because the US Postal Service told us about it. Investigators with the US Postal Inspection Police needed help finding the assailants. But the News4 I-Team discovered there are hundreds of similar crimes each year no one ever hears about.
The News4 I-Team obtained a nationwide list, never before released to the public, of more than 1,600 violent crimes against postal employees.
Postal robberies are sky rocketing and yet the USPS refuses to allow the Letter Carriers in South Florida to start work before 9 am. Most Post Masters and their supervisors are home eating dinner, spending time with their families, but not the Letter Carriers. Would it not be safe to assume a Letter Carrier would be robbed or attacked in the dark rather than in the day light? If you are wondering why, well stop and forget about it. Backward thinking is the USPS way. The unions are just as bad only worrying about themselves and not their members. They are just as guilty and responsible for their lack of concern.
How is this news ?
Mgmt. has been getting away with robbery for decades.
It stands to reason that as the monetary value of parcels increases, so will crime by stealing packages or assaulting and even killing letter carriers. The USPS could do something about this: I won’t suggest they are to blame in all instances, except where carriers are ordered to stay out well after dark in known high crime areas. Then, it’s all on USPS management. However, if the number of assaults and theft increase exponentially, not to mention murders, the Postal Service along with the rural letter carrier union and the NALC could declare a moratorium on all package delivery, period. Just start leaving notices if we can’t work without risk of being a victim of a violent crime by some piece of shit looking to fence a package for a meth fix or something else. If it doesn’t fit in your box, you go to the Post Office, period.
Management will never agree to that, however. The money is more important to them than the lives of their carriers. We’re just numbers after all and expendable. Knock off a veteran carrier who is topped out and they can replace him or her with a CCA for half the cost and the CCA will run and work through lunches! You CCA’s had better learn quick that you’re setting standards for yourself that you can’t possibly keep up forever, and management will expect you to act like a CCA when you get your own route. You should never run any time because if you hurt yourself they’ll blame you and throw you out on your ass if it looks like some serious medical bills may have to be paid by them. Plus, why would you work for free? Hey, I don’t get paid, I don’t deliver mail. I took my full lunch from the first day on the job over 30 years ago, and so should you.
Carriers have the right to refuse service where they genuinely feel threatened, and if you’re caught in a bad neighborhood after dark, and that area is known for criminal activity you have a legitimate reason for refusing to deliver. Let the USPS prove it isn’t.