One of our responsibilities as an Office of Inspector General is to keep Congress informed about issues at the Postal Service. We do this in our Semiannual Reports to Congress and by sharing our audit reports and other work. Sometimes, the OIG is also asked to take part in a hearing.

Just last month, the Government Operations Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee invited us to testify at a hearing called An Update on Mail Theft and Crime. Deputy Inspector General Julius Rothstein represented the OIG, and there were four other witnesses. You can watch the hearing here.

At the hearing, Deputy IG Rothstein shared our work on combatting mail theft (read his statement). Our special agents work with law enforcement partners to disrupt mail theft rings that often involve criminal organizations working with postal employees. Our auditors have examined mail theft hot spots around the country and recommended improvements to reduce theft. We have also reviewed the Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service’s response to mail theft. In the last few years, we’ve ramped up our use of data analytics as a force multiplier on mail theft audits and investigations.

One serious concern raised at the hearing was the safety of letter carriers who are confronted by criminals seeking their arrow keys (universal keys that open all mailboxes in an area). 

The safety of carriers and other postal employees is extremely important to us at the OIG. As part of our local mail theft audits, the OIG has been monitoring the installation of new high security electronic locks that use digital keys and don’t put carriers at risk. Last year, we examined the rollout of this technology and also looked at the progress of Project Safe Delivery, a joint Postal Service-Postal Inspection Service initiative to address mail theft and improve employee safety. By detecting and stopping mail theft rings, our agents also stop dangerous criminal groups who may approach Postal Service employees to steal mail. 

You can read more about our mail theft work in our Focus on Mail Theft and learn about specific mail theft cases on our Case Highlights page. Do you have thoughts on what can be done to reduce mail theft and improve letter carrier safety? Let us know in the comments below.