U.S. Postal Service letter carriers from across Metro Denver rallied at the Aurora Main Post Office on Tuesday to raise awareness for increasing assaults and robberies and to call for more federal prosecution of the crimes.
About 30 letter carriers stood outside the post office Tuesday night, listening to state and national union leaders and chanting “Enough is enough!”
The Colorado State Association of Letter Carriers has tracked 10 assaults and robberies on metro-area letter carriers in 2023, President Richard Byrne said Tuesday, up from two cases reported to the group in 2022.
Byrne, a letter carrier in Greeley, said people who commit crimes against federal employees should face federal charges.
“We need the Postal Service and (U.S.) Postal Inspection Service to work with federal prosecutors,” Byrne said. “Maybe we need some legislation with some teeth in it to hold these suspects accountable.”
Denver letter carrier Ken Deuel worked for the Postal Service for 30 years before he was robbed and shot at during his regular route in South Park Hill in January.
“I’ve had this route for 16 years,” Deuel said. “This is the first time something like this has happened.”
Deuel was almost done with a loop on his route near East 19th Avenue and Kearney Street on Jan. 28 when he saw a car parked next to his mail truck.
While it’s not unusual for customers to stop by his truck to drop off mail, Deuel said, he found his truck door was open and a young man or teenager was stealing packages and throwing them into the car, which held two other men.
Deuel shouted at the group and as the car took off, he tried to grab the packages the third man was stealing.
As they struggled, Deuel hit the man in the head with a package scanner, and the man pulled out a gun and shot at Deuel.
Deuel was uninjured but shaken by the encounter. The Postal Inspection Service is offering a $50,000 reward for information in the case.
Assaults and robberies of letter carriers have sharply increased in the last decade, according to The Associated Press, with nearly 500 postal carriers robbed in the United States in 2022.
“I took an oath to protect the sanctity of the mail, and now they’re like ‘Don’t worry about it, if you’re getting robbed, let them take whatever they want,’ ” Deuel said.
In a statement, USPS spokesperson James Boxrud said there has been an increase in crimes against USPS employees amid an overall increase in crime across the country.
“Every postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public’s mail,” Boxrud said. “In an increasingly challenging environment, the USPS and the United States Postal Inspection Service are highly focused on protecting postal employees and property and ensuring the secure delivery of the nation’s mail and packages.”
Both agencies are increasing security by “hardening” blue collection boxes, enhancing collection box key and lock technology and instituting dual authentication for change of addresses, Boxrud said.
“We will continue to adapt to evolving security threats and implement expanded measures to safeguard our employees and preserve the security of the mail that our customers expect and deserve,” he said.
Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the union supports a legislative solution that would increase funding for more postal inspectors and mail security. He’s also in support of examining sentencing guidelines for mail-related crimes.
Community members can help out their letter carriers by doing small things like keeping an eye on them while they’re on their routes, Renfroe said.
“Oftentimes, something as simple as a customer walking onto their porch to get their mail and if they see a letter carrier walking by, watching them walk to the end of the block might be the difference in one of these happening or not happening,” he said.
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