This is how Bill Pascrell wants to fix spiking mail thefts with USPS

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. called out the United States Postal Service for handcuffing its inspection force as mail thefts and attacks on letter carriers have spiked nationwide.

Pascrell, a veteran Democrat who represents New Jersey's 9th Congressional District, was joined at a Thursday press event by North Jersey-based federal postal police officers and Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh. Speaking in front of the Larry Doby Paterson Post Office, Pascrell blamed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for the decimation of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

"For over 50 years, brave postal police officers like those behind me patrolled our streets," Pascrell said. "They protected mail and kept it out of the hands of criminals. In 2016, postal police officers conducted over 3,000 letter carrier protection patrols in New Jersey, including over 600 right here in Paterson. But Louis DeJoy stripped postal police of this ability in 2020."

What happened to postal inspection patrols?

Pascrell explained that in August 2020, DeJoy ordered postal police officers to stop patrolling outside of post offices, limiting their law enforcement duties to USPS-owned real estate. He said the responsibility of investigating attacks on letter carriers has fallen on inspectors, whose job is primarily looking into mail theft and fraud.

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The congressman said that since 2020, due to the change in postal law enforcement, there have been zero carrier protection patrols conducted in the United States. That, Pascrell said, has led to robberies of mail carriers increasing by over 100% in the past two years, from 169 to 359 projected for 2023.

He also said the cancellation of carrier protection patrols affected the work of inspectors. The number of arrests for postal thefts, Pascrell said, has fallen more than 50% since 2018. In addition, postal inspectors investigated less than 1% of mail theft complaints received during the Postal Service's 2020-2021 fiscal year, he said.

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Promoting the Postal Police Reform Act

Pascrell then advocated for the Postal Police Reform Act, which he is co-sponsoring in Congress. The bill would reverse DeJoy's directive.

"My Postal Police Reform Act would allow postal police to return to patrolling our streets. It would let officers do their jobs. Postal police have been doing this for over 50 years," Pascrell said. "Americans are entitled to get their mail. We must stop handcuffing postal law enforcement officers."

USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer said in a statement to NorthJersey.com and The Record that postal police officers are assigned to certain facilities because the "Inspection Service has determined that these facilities require the presence of uniformed, trained, and armed officers.

"Removing those officers from Postal Service property, where a significant concentration of mail and employees exist, would put at risk not only postal facilities, but also the employees and customers who use those facilities every day," Partenheimer said.

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: USPS mail thefts: How NJ Rep. Bill Pascrell wants to fix issue