Amid recent instances of numerous letter carriers being robbed on the job in the Chicago area, some local lawmakers are now demanding that more be done to keep postal workers safe.
A letter carrier who does not want to be identified told NBC 5 she was robbed while delivering the mail a few weeks ago on the city’s West Side.
“A young man followed me down the block and demanded the arrow key, and I gave it to him because he had a gun,” she said.
According to Mack Julion, the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers-Chicago, Branch 11, a total of 20 letter carriers have been robbed in the Chicago area since August. Five letter carriers were robbed in the last week, with master keys being the target of the thieves.
“They come to work to deliver the mail, not to have people jump out of a car and stick a gun to their face,” Julion said.
“They don’t have to put themselves in harms way to deliver the mail. If our members don't feel safe, we tell them don't deliver to certain buildings.”
This week, Chicago-area lawmakers sent a letter to the United States Postal Service Board of Governors, expressing concern over inaction in response to an uptick in violence and crime against letter carriers locally and nationwide.
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"Since 2018, reports of mail carrier robberies have more than tripled from 80 robberies in 2018 to more than 260 in 2021. Criminals frequently target carriers for their master keys, often reselling these keys to other criminals for thousands of dollars. We call upon the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service to take the necessary steps to ensure postal workers across the nation can carry out their jobs in peace,” the letter reads in part.
The letter was signed by Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, as well as Illinois congressional members Mike Quigley, Sean Casten and Jan Schakowsky.
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