Shoddy Service and Now Robberies of Mail
By Dan Murphy
The quality of service from your local post office in Westchester depends on the community you live in. So we qualify this story with that caveat; some local post offices deliver the mail in a timely and efficient manner.
Other post offices in the county have been the subject of complaints for years, and have resulted in elected officials like Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano to lodge numerous complaints, to no avail.
Now police reports indicate that some communities have had their mail robbed, resulting in a letter being sent from Westchester’s Congressmembers Nita Lowey, Eliot Engel and Sean Patrick Maloney, and New York’s two Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, asking for answers to the mail crisis in Westchester.
In the letter, sent to U.S Postmaster General Megan Brennan, the members highlight incidents of stolen mail that resulted in financial fraud and identity theft. From missing payments to emptied bank accounts after thieves “wash” checks pulled from collection boxes, mail theft threatens the livelihood of constituents.
The delegation was alerted to these alarming thefts by Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino last week.
The letter states:
Dear Postmaster General Brennan:
Over the past year, we members of Congress representing the Hudson Valley have been in contact with the United States Postal Service (USPS) regarding a range of problems our constituents face with the Postal Service. We write today to call on the Postal Service to implement a broad, aggressive program to combat robberies and theft of mail across the Hudson Valley. We ask that this plan include an increase in the number of postal inspectors and investments in new technology to secure collection boxes.
Mail theft threatens the livelihood of our constituents and impacts our most vulnerable populations. These thefts occur daily, rapidly and significantly decreasing the reliability of the Postal Service. Thieves are not only “fishing” mail out of collection boxes, but are stealing the entire mailbox or using keys acquired from postal employees.
Thieves use stolen mail to commit financial fraud and identity theft. Our constituents have been accused of missing payments, and some of their bank accounts have been emptied after thieves “wash” checks pulled from mailboxes. These widespread incidents cost our constituents large sums of money and much time to remedy, not to mention the confidence and peace of mind that the Postal Service prides itself on providing.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino is working with postal inspectors and local law enforcement officers. However, he reports that the Postal Service has only six full-time postal inspectors to cover the Bronx and the counties in the Hudson Valley. We know from our constituents and from media reports that similar thefts have occurred in Rockland County, Bronx County, and elsewhere across our region of New York. The Postal Service must implement new technology to secure collection boxes and significantly increase the number of postal inspectors to prevent and investigate this epidemic of theft.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. We look forward to reviewing your plan (wrote Lowey, Engel, Maloney, Gillibrand and Schumer).
