Gutting of USPS police has contributed to rising crimes, another strike against disastrous DeJoy tenure
U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) and Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02) have introduced the Postal Police Reform Act (H.R. 5587), legislation that would reverse a 2020 directive from the Chief Postal Inspector that shackled Postal Police Officers to physical postal locations and prevented officers from fully executing their duty to ensure public safety within the nation's mail system.
"Under Louis DeJoy’s catastrophic tenure, the Post Office has been plunged into existential danger," said Rep. Pascrell. "Now, Postal Police Officers are being blocked from protecting postal employees and property, leading to a spike in theft of property and assaults against letter carriers. This is an absolute disgrace. Our commonsense, bipartisan legislation would let brave Postal Police do their jobs without interference. I thank Rep. Garbarino for his leadership in securing our Postal Service."
"Postal Police Officers serve a critical public safety role, but they have been kneecapped by a senseless directive," said Rep. Garbarino. "Since Postal Police have been confined to postal property, there has been a spike in mail theft and violence, including rising attacks against mail carriers. Postal Police must be given the freedom to combat crime within the mail system for the good of public safety. This bill will enhance public safety by removing current restrictions and empowering postal police to do their jobs."
"For decades Postal Police Officers have played a vital public service, protecting postal employees, safeguarding postal assets, and combatting mail theft," said Frank Albergo, National President of the Postal Police Officers Association. "Now, with rising incidents of violent attacks against postal employees and mail theft increasing at a staggering rate, Postal Police Officers are needed more than ever. H.R. 5587 will fix the current ambiguity in federal law and allow Postal Police Officers to return to street duty so that they can once again work to stem the tide of this criminal activity. Postal Police Officers look forward to again protecting postal employees and safeguarding the mail, no matter the location. The Postal Police Officers Association thanks Congressmen Andrew Garbarino and Bill Pascrell for their unwavering support of law enforcement and their leadership in introducing this critical bi-partisan legislation during Police Week."
On January 25, 2021, Rep. Pascrell became the first member of Congress calling on President Biden to fire the entire Postal Board of Governors sitting before his election for their silence and complicity in DeJoy’s ongoing sabotage of postal operations. In February, Pascrell immediately praised the nominations by President Biden of the three new nominees to the USPS Board of Governors and on March 18, Pascrell and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03) led over 50 House Democrats urging Biden to immediately remove the then-sitting USPS Board of Governors.
Since this postal crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has aggressively demanded accountability from USPS. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office. On August 14, 2020 Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their dismantling the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy subverted state elections.
On September 30, 2020 Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Dominic Daniels mail sorting center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.etwork, visit www.hcdnnj.org.
A recording of Rep. Pascrell’s acceptance speech is available here.
Original source can be found here.
