Illinois Senator Dick Durbin announced the Postmaster General's Project Safe Delivery Initiative, which aims to up protections for postal workers on their routes.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.
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.
To prevent mail theft, the Postal Service also has deployed more than 10,000 high-security blue boxes in high-risk locations to prevent criminals from fishing out the mail.