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   With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement   
   officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown   
   launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at   
   gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service   
   announced Wednesday.   
      
   Criminals are both stealing mail and targeting carriers' so-called   
   “arrow keys” to get access to mailboxes.   
      
      
   The Postal Service announcement on Wednesday came against a backdrop   
   of rallies by the National Association of Letter Carriers calling   
   for better protection of carriers and harsh punishment for criminals   
   who rob them. They've been held across the country in recent months,   
   including one Tuesday in Denver and another Wednesday in Houston.   
      
   “Postal carriers have to keep their head on a swivel. They have to   
   take precautions to be extra vigilant with their surroundings,” Rick   
   Byrne, president of the Colorado State Association of Letter   
   Carriers, said Wednesday.   
      
   Letter carriers are on edge after nearly 500 of them were robbed   
   last year. Criminals increasingly targeted the mail to commit   
   financial crimes like altering checks to obtain money.   
   Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement that it’s   
   important to protect the “sanctity of the nation’s mail” but that   
   his top priority is the safety of those delivering it.   
      
   To reduce robberies, the Postal Service is in the process of   
   replacing tens of thousands of postal carriers’ universal keys that   
   are sought by criminals seeking to steal mail to commit check fraud,   
   officials said. So far, 6,500 of the keys have been replaced with   
   electronic locks in select cities, and another 42,500 are set to be   
   deployed, officials said. The Postal Service has declined to say how   
   many of the arrow keys are in service.   
      
   To prevent mail theft, the Postal Service also has deployed more   
   than 10,000 high-security blue boxes in high-risk locations to   
   prevent people from breaking into them.   
      
   The Postal Service also implemented changes that reduced fraudulent   
   change-of-a-address transactions by 99.3% over the past fiscal year,   
   and they’ve reduced counterfeit postage by 50%, as well, officials   
   said.   
      
   The Postal Service is touting its successes after a critical report   
   by its own watchdog, the Office of Inspector General. Issued late   
   last month, it faulted management for a lack of “actionable   
   milestones,” accountability for staffing and training, and upgrading   
   carriers’ universal keys.   
      
   The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is leading the effort with other   
   internal units and outside law enforcement agencies. Early efforts   
   focused on organized mail crime in Chicago, San Francisco and   
   several cities across Ohio.   
      
   Of the 600-plus arrests made since May as part of “Operation Safe   
   Delivery,” more than 100 were for robberies while more than 530 were   
   for mail theft, officials told reporters Wednesday.   
      
   The penalty is steep for interfering with the mail.   
      
   Theft alone can be punished by up to five years in prison;   
   possession or disposal of postal property carries a sentence of up   
   to 10 years in prison. Assaulting a mail carrier can also lead to a   
   10-year sentence for a first-time offense. Repeat offenders can get   
   25 years for an assault.   
      
   https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/usps-touts-crackdown-on-   
   postal-crime-carrier-robberies-with-hundreds-of-arrests/ar-AA1iPDpf   
      
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