The long-held troupe nearly all Americans are familiar with of postal workers being chased and bitten by dogs is unfortunately a real thing. However, what many don’t know, letter carriers may more likely be victims of attacks by the planet’s most deadly animals – humans.
And these deliverers of our letters, bills, coupons and online purchases have had enough.
Recently, members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) held a rally aptly named “Enough is Enough” at the North Shepherd Post Office (7511 N. Shepherd Dr., Houston, TX 77088). NALC President Brian Renfroe, Shawn Boyd, the top NALC officer in Texas, local branch officers and many rank-and-file letter carriers and community leaders gathered to give and/or hear speeches addressing this issue.
And at issue is letter carrier safety.
Letter carriers in Houston, specifically, are increasingly targets of robberies and physical assaults as they deliver the mail to our area’s residents and businesses. In fact, 25 such incidents have happened this year alone. And according to these essential workers, in the recent past and well beyond, such attacks simply did not occur.
Letter carriers Tijuana Abbott and Ulysses Wells both shared personal testimonies of attacks while on the job that they were thankfully able to survive. NALC Branch 283 President Willie Fergurson addressed rally attendees, as well.
“These brazen crimes, once rare but now growing more frequent and more violent, here and elsewhere in Texas and beyond, are hurting letter carriers, leading to stolen mail, and damaging our community. This is unacceptable and must stop now,” said the NALC in a written statement. “The United States Postal Service needs to protect its employees here and around the country, and prosecutors need to prosecute these crimes against federal workers to the full extent of the law.”
These assaults produce fear, trauma and physical injuries among letter carriers, and they also hurt the communities they serve.
“Because we deliver routes for years or even decades, know our customers, notice when something is amiss and often are first on the scene, we often alert authorities to an elderly resident’s health crisis, find a missing child, or put out a small fire before it engulfs a house,” said the NALC. “But it is more difficult to pay attention to the well-being of the neighborhood if we constantly have to look over our shoulders or wonder why someone is approaching us.”
These unacceptable attacks also create an unacceptable outcome for the general public: residents, businesses and other organizations have to worry about and deal with stolen mail/checks.
The “Enough is Enough” rally hammered home the point that these crimes need to stop now.
“The Postal Service needs to protect us, and prosecutors/law enforcement need to send a clear message through their actions that such attacks will not be tolerated,” added the NALC.
