As violence toward letter carriers grows, OKC-area union rally at Capitol calls for action

In December, in Youngstown, Ohio, a mail carrier was robbed of his key to collection boxes, leaving potentially thousands of pieces of mail vulnerable to thieves.

Two days later in the Youngstown suburb of Boardman, a letter carrier was assaulted and also robbed of his key.

In February, federal authorities announced rewards up to $150,000 for information leading to arrests in a recent string of robberies against letter carriers in the Dallas area.

According to the National Association of Letter Carriers, attacks against letter carriers in the United States appear to have increased at a rate never seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 2,000 instances have been reported across the country since 2020, the group said.

Robberies of postal carriers have exploded, surging 78% to nearly 500 in 2022, according to data provided by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to The Associated Press.

Now, the NALC union is warning that carriers in the Oklahoma City area are increasingly targets of robberies and physical assaults as they deliver the mail.

“Here in the Oklahoma City metro area in the last two years, we’ve had six robberies or attempted armed robberies,” Eric Beu, vice president of the  National Association of Letter Carriers Oklahoma City Branch 458 said at a rally Thursday at the state Capitol. “The most recent one, thankfully, was thwarted by some customers. We’re not asking anybody to put themselves in harm’s way, but if anybody sees something, say something.”

As they have in other parts of the country recently, NALC members rallied in Oklahoma City to draw attention to increased violence against letter carriers and to call on prosecutors to step up enforcement.

NALC President Brian Renfroe said just 14% of attacks against letter carriers since 2020 have resulted in both an arrest and a federal prosecution.

“We are calling on federal prosecutors right here in the state of Oklahoma and around the country to prioritize every single case of violence against letter carriers,” Renfroe said.

Dan Versluis, the top NALC officer in the five-state region and a letter carrier for more than 30 years, said such brazen attacks on letter carriers were unimaginable even a decade ago.

“Today, letter carriers have to have their heads on a swivel,” he said. “They have to have eyes in the back of their head, because not only are they still trying to do their job, and serve the American public, they also have to watch out and watch (their) backs.”

Jeremiah Grant, a U.S. Postal Service worker, said he was robbed of keys at gunpoint while delivering mail to an Oklahoma City apartment complex on the afternoon of April 7, 2022.

The armed gunman wore a mask and demanded Grant hand over his phone. The robber smashed Grant’s phone on the ground before fleeing. Grant used his smartwatch to call police.

He has taken another position with the Postal Service, one where he doesn’t have to live in fear while delivering the mail.

“The responsibility I feel as a provider for my family has been weighed down by the remarkably heavy burden of this experience,” Grant said. “I face each day with an unwelcome sense of vulnerability and a desire to forget that it ever happened.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Letter carrier union in OKC rallies for protection amid growing violence