Postal police force chief claims their duties have been scaled back due to defunding by USPS
Postal Police Office Association President Frank Albergo claims the department has been sidelined by the USPS.
Amid a surge in mail theft, Postal Police Office Association President Frank Albergo said that the postal police force has been sidelined by the USPS.
"Well, about a year ago, the postal service pulled postal police off the streets. We were protecting mail and the postal infrastructure. We were protecting postal workers," Albergo told "Fox & Friends."
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According to the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General report, the Postal Inspection Service received 40,727 mail fraud complaints and 299,020 mail theft complaints from March 2020 through February 2021, an increase of more than 160%.
Albergo said when the USPS restricted postal police to protecting postal service real property only, they filed a lawsuit.
"We sued the Postal Service. Federal court ruled that if the Postal Service chose to put us out on the street again to protect your mail, the Postal Service certainly could do that. But, they have chosen not to do that. And it's inexplicable why they have done this," Albergo said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service released a statement to "Fox & Friends": "Postal police officers have not been stripped of their duties as permissible under federal statute they are utilized to protect postal real property, employees and customers within the confines of said postal property. There has been no reduction in force of postal police officers, and their compensation and funding have not been impacted."
Albergo responded by saying that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has not been truthful about the issue.
"They say that postal police law enforcement authority is restricted to real property. This is simply untrue."
Furthermore, Albergo explained further that the postal police law enforcement authority is at the Postal Service's "discretion."
"In other words, the Postal Service could put PPOs, which are postal police officers, back on the street again to protect the mail. "They just chose not to," Albergo said.
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"The Postal Service isn't being truthful. I mean, the Postal Inspection Service believes that not being caught in a lie is the same as telling the truth. They should tell the American public why they pulled PPOs off the street."
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