Union wants to see Postal Police back on street after more mail carriers are robbed in Chicago area

The letter carriers’ union said Durbin’s proposed legislation is a long time coming.

Durbin and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) have introduced the Postal Police Reform Act – which would allow the Postal Service to assign Postal Police officers to protect workers against robberies.

Currently, Postal Police are only assigned to duties on postal property. In a news release, Durbin noted that the U.S. Postal Service restricted Postal Police officers to such duties under the leadership of Postmaster Louis DeJoy in 2020.

Citing statistics from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Durbin’s office said armed robberies of mail carriers jumped from 36 incidents nationwide in 2018 to 154 in 2021.