The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has changed its focus on fighting mail theft, choosing to go after “those at the top of criminal organizations who are robbing letter carriers, stealing mail and perpetrating financial crimes,” a spokeswoman with the inspection service’s Cincinnati Field Office told News Center 7.
The inspection service’s comments were made in response to John Bedell, News Center 7 I-TEAM investigative reporter, who began asking questions after the service’s fiscal year 2022 report, which indicated that arrests for mail theft have dropped the last five years. The report did not jibe with what agency leaders told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing last September, that mail thefts are on the rise.
Nicole Lutz, postal inspector and spokeswoman with the Cincinnati Field Office USPIS, said, “Many courts are still working through a backlog of cases coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.