International Courant
It’s the vacation season, which suggests supply drivers can be hustling Christmas presents with harmful Grinches lurking.
Latest robberies and carjackings of supply drivers have put a highlight on the threats they face as they deal with the push of shipments and presents. Drivers for Amazon, FedEx and UPS have all been focused over the previous month.
The U.S. Postal Service can also be weak, with assaults on postal staff up 231% over the past three years, in response to the Postal Police Officers Affiliation.
Per Postal Service knowledge, 412 mail carriers have been robbed in 2020. In simply the primary half of this yr, 305 worker robberies have been reported. Armed robberies of letter carriers elevated sharply between 2018 and 2021, rising from 36 to 154 reported incidents, in response to the USA Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
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A feminine UPS driver may be seen dialing 911 as thieves get away together with her brown truck in Maryland in November. (Fox 5)
Mail carriers and supply drivers in Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco and different cities over the previous two months demanded safer circumstances for supply staff on their routes at “Sufficient is Sufficient” rallies through the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers.
Not too long ago, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Nationwide Public Data Officer Michael Martel advised Fox Information Digital that thieves have been after postal staff’ “arrow keys” — which can be utilized to open most postal containers — after directions on the best way to use and spot them proliferated on-line.
Utilizing these keys, he stated, thieves can get hold of monetary paperwork like Social Safety checks to commit fraud, together with prescriptions and different priceless objects. The keys can reportedly command 1000’s of {dollars} on the black market.
An Amazon supply driver was robbed at gunpoint by two convicted felons in Florida on Jan. 13. (Orange County Sheriff’s Workplace)
In Might of this yr, Martel stated, USPIS expanded its “Undertaking Protected Supply” program in gentle of elevated robberies and mail thefts.
As a part of the initiative, the company put in over 10,000 mail assortment containers upgraded with further security measures, Martel stated, and 6,500 further digital locks.
Additionally since Might, USPIS and legislation enforcement businesses across the nation have carried out 109 arrests for robberies and greater than 530 arrests for mail theft.
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The U.S. Postal Inspection Service reviews that armed robberies of letter carriers elevated sharply between 2018 and 2021, rising from 36 incidents to 154 incidents. (Getty Photos)
“There’s actually elevated alternative for mail theft to happen across the vacation season,” Martel stated Thursday. “The Postal Service and undertaking protected supply will proceed by the vacations to maintain American mail and our workers protected.”
On Tuesday, the company arrested 20-year-old Devan Flax in connection to 2 armed robberies of USPS carriers in Chicago, the company wrote in a press launch.
The person had robbed one letter service at gunpoint on Saturday, the company stated, then one other on Tuesday.
Upon his arrest, two stolen postal keys and the firearm used within the robberies have been confiscated. Flax was charged with two counts of armed theft, one depend of aggravated theft and three counts of aggravated illegal use of a weapon.
Martel stated thieves additionally break into carriers’ vehicles and curbside containers for packages en route.
Most lately, an Amazon driver in New Haven, Connecticut, was held up by 4 carjackers — one armed — as he unloaded packages from his truck early Wednesday.
The armed man pointed his weapon on the driver and demanded he get contained in the truck. The lads gathered the packages within the car, then fled the scene. The New Haven Police Division stated the motive force was shaken however unhurt.
Two days earlier in Colorado, a FedEx driver was shot by a carjacker, the Denver Police Division advised Fox Information Digital.
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An Amazon driver’s van was stolen at gunpoint in Connecticut this week, then discovered deserted. (New Haven Police Division)
Officers responded to the scene round 4:30 p.m. Monday and took the sufferer from the North Vine Road crime scene to a hospital the place he was handled for non-life threatening accidents. His stolen truck was discovered afterward Garfield Road, police stated.
“The case stays beneath investigation, together with if something was stolen from the car,” a division public info officer wrote in a Thursday electronic mail. “No arrests have been made.”
On Thanksgiving in Chicago, two gunmen robbed one other FedEx driver within the Bucktown neighborhood round 10:43 a.m.
The 2 supply drivers — a 32-year-old man and his 50-year-old companion — have been reportedly ordered to get on the bottom on North Honore Road. The 2 thieves then transferred the packages within the truck to their very own silver Infiniti SUV.
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Members of the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers in Detroit are seen at their “Sufficient is Sufficient” rally on Nov. 6 demanding safer circumstances for supply staff. (Fox 2 Detroit)
In an incident the day earlier than, about six masked gunmen arrived in a black Jeep and hit a person behind the pinnacle with a weapon on Chicago’s West Carroll Avenue, then fled the scene with the sufferer’s silver Infiniti SUV, police stated. The division is reportedly investigating whether or not the 2 incidents are associated, CWB Chicago reported.
In response to the incidents, a spokesperson for FedEx advised Fox Information Digital that “the security of [its] workforce members and the safety of [its] clients’ shipments” have been their high priorities.
“We now have rigorous security and safety applications in place supposed to make sure workforce members are protected and buyer property is protected,” the corporate consultant wrote in a Wednesday electronic mail.
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Earlier this month, doorbell digicam footage in Maryland captured the armed daytime carjacking of a feminine UPS driver.
The Glenarden assault on Elk Avenue befell round 2 p.m. on Nov. 10, per the Prince George’s County Police Division.
Within the footage, the motive force may be heard yelling that her brown truck was taken at gunpoint after she is swarmed by a number of suspects. She will be able to then be seen calling police on her cellphone.
“They simply pulled a gun out on me,” the united statesdriver could possibly be heard telling dispatchers within the Ring doorbell footage obtained by FOX 5.
The neighbor whose digicam captured the video stated he initially thought a pair was preventing outdoors his home.
Per U.S. Postal Companies knowledge, 412 mail carriers have been robbed in 2020. Simply within the first half of this yr, 305 worker robberies have been reported. (Scott Olson/Getty Photos)
“It is very brazen, in the midst of the day,” the person advised FOX 5. “A lot of the properties have cameras, so to do this proper in entrance of everyone’s home who has entrance view cameras, it is a bit of unnerving.”
“You hope issues get a bit of higher,” the neighbor continued. “Perhaps it is the local weather, but it surely’s unlucky — it’s important to be vigilant and watch your again.”
On Tuesday, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-In poor health., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, launched the Postal Police Reform Act with bipartisan help in response to the obvious uptick.
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At present, Postal Police Officers can solely work on USPS property; the proposed laws would permit them to function and perform arrests offsite.
“Our nation has seen an unacceptable enhance in postal crime, and because of present restrictions, Postal Police Officers are unable to hold out vital public security duties,” Collins wrote in a press launch. “By permitting Postal Police Officers to work past Postal Service property, this bipartisan laws acknowledges the pressing want to guard our mail carriers and higher safe our whole postal system.”
