JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As attacks on mail carriers have soared in recent years, Congress is considering a bill that would provide USPS workers extra protection. Locally, Jacksonville City Council members are proposing a resolution in support of that federal legislation, especially in light of crimes that have happened locally.
Hundreds of people marched in downtown Jacksonville earlier this month to bring awareness to how dangerous it’s become to deliver mail.
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“Our cry is is enough is enough,” said Jim Thigpenn, representing about 1,200 city letter carriers in northeast Florida as the president of the local branch of the National Association Letter Carriers.
He said mail carriers have become a target for thieves in recent years.
“During COVID, a lot of people started coming up with different schemes, so it seems like there’s an organized attack on letter carriers to get the keys that we carry that open up a lot of boxes, blue boxes, things like that,” he said.
The U.S. Postal Service reported robberies on postal carriers rose nearly 30% last year to 643 with 61 of those leaving carriers hurt.
Robbers are after things like checks and personal information, including in Jacksonville. According to Thigpenn, last year there were a dozen smash and grabs on mail trucks, as well as six postal workers attacked on the job, including some held at gunpoint.
He said the psychological toll on mail carriers is intense.
“We’ve had two or three carriers that...have not even been able to go back out on the street…really has them second guessing everything, who’s coming up to talk to them,” Thigpenn said. “That’s not a thing that we’ve really had to deal with before.”
Congress has introduced legislation that aims to protect mail carriers from attacks by replacing the master mailbox keys thieves are after with more secure electronic boxes.
“We won’t be a target as far as someone trying to get to all that mail with access to those keys,” Thigpenn said.
The bill also calls for hiring more prosecutors and imposing harsher sentences on those who target mail carriers. According to the National Association of Letter Carriers, the legislation would provide $7 billion in funding from fiscal years 2025-2029.
To Jacksonville City Councilmember Rahman Johnson, it’s a cause worthy of local support.
“This is where it happens,” Johnson said.
To take action, he introduced a resolution to City Council so local lawmakers can symbolically show support to the letter carriers lobbying for the federal bill. The resolution does not involve any local funding.
“It’s simply a resolution saying that the council believes that our letter carriers are important,” Johnson said.
City Council will vote on the resolution Tuesday. If it passes and the mayor signs it, the resolution will then be sent to members of Jacksonville’s Congressional delegation.