Postal workers demand increased protections amid heightened attacks, robberies

A couple dozen people with the National Association of Letter Carriers gathered at the state Capitol on Thursday afternoon to call on the United States Postal Service to protect its employees after witnessing a rise in assaults on postal workers.

The organization said there have been at least 10 assaults against letter carriers over the last two years in the Valley — an occurrence it says used to be extremely rare prior to the pandemic.

Cynthia Staley, president of the NALC's Branch 576, decried the attacks against letter carriers and called on USPS and the U.S. Department of Justice to prioritize investigations and prosecutions into these incidents.

"We need our federal prosecutors to prosecute," Staley said. "We need people to know that if you rob a letter carrier, you will be prosecuted and you will go to jail. Enough is enough."

Staley added that letter carriers are vital parts of their community and asked the public to support them and to call 911 if they witness a carrier being robbed or attacked in some way.

Dan Versluis, a regional NALC officer in Arizona and surrounding states and a letter carrier for 30 years, said the rise in attacks and robberies came during the pandemic with no signs of the incidents decreasing.

"No carrier ever expects to wake up in the morning, put on that uniform, go to work, deliver the mail to our customers and not come home safe," Versluis said.

NALC President Brian Renfroe echoed his colleagues' sentiments, stating the attacks on letter carriers were absolutely unacceptable.

"We're all here today because our members — letter carriers — are under attack by violent criminals who have no regard for their health and safety," Renfroe said. "We're here because this violence should come with an increase in protection, awareness and community. But instead, as is often the case, it feels like we only have one another."

Renfroe said more than 2,000 violent attacks had been inflicted on letter carriers across the country since 2020, with the majority involving a gun or other type of weapon. Renfroe said of those, only 14% were prosecuted.

"Nearly every day, I learn of one of my members — letter carriers — being victim to some sort of violence. Targeted armed robberies, assaults, shootings and yes, even murder, has now become part of our job. This should not be."

Renfroe called on the DOJ to prioritize cases involving letter carriers and said the union was working with members of congress to introduce a bill that would add additional resources for investigating and combating such incidents. Renfroe said such a bill would have large bipartisan support despite a widening gap between Democrats and Republicans.

In response to questions regarding the NALC's concerns, Rod Spurgeon, a USPS spokesperson, referred to a joint statement from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale issued in October on security improvements that had been instituted through an initiative called "Project Safe Delivery."

“As our nation continues to address a sustained crime wave, our targeted focus to crack down on postal crime is progressing,” DeJoy said in the statement. “The safety of our letter carriers — and all postal employees — is our top priority. We will continue to work steadfastly with our law enforcement partners to increase the safety of our employees and protect the sanctity of the nation’s mail.”

Renfroe said the initiative was originally created to better protect the mail rather than the people who carry it, but noted that improvements began to include letter carrier safety as well. Still, Renfroe said more work needed to be done to better protect letter carriers and prosecute those who attack them beyond what had already been done.

"This missing piece is prevention and protection and stopping these crimes from happening before they happen," Renfroe said. "And frankly, the problem has grown so large that the Inspection Service just simply doesn't have the capacity to provide that based on sheer numbers. That is something we will address in legislation."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona postal workers demand protections amid increase in assaults