SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 40 Sacramento residents living in the Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods packed the nearby library Wednesday where a city postal inspector addressed continuing cluster mailbox thefts.
One woman at the meeting even said her mail was stolen earlier that day.
Pocket-Greenhaven Community Association member Steve Lightstone hosted postal inspector Jeff Fitch, along with a representative of Congresswoman Doris Matsui and a representative for the Sacramento Police Department.
They said most cluster mailbox thefts being reported in the area result from mail carriers being robbed of their master keys at gunpoint.
Lightstone pulled up a slideshow presentation that he said showed about 250 locations across the Pocket area where cluster mailbox thefts have been reported the past two years.
He said lack of criminal convictions regarding mail theft is causing residents to lose hope in trusting the police or postal service to meaningfully address the thefts.
"I don't know of a single neighborhood with a cluster mailbox that hasn't been targeted by thieves. They're getting money, medicine, IDs, rebate cards—all that stuff," he said.
Counterfeit keys can also be produced to bust into cluster mailboxes.
Fitch said even after the master keys assigned to particular zones are reported stolen or compromised, mail carriers are given a copy of the same key as they wait for replacement locks to be installed.
"That's a logistical process that takes time," he said Wednesday. "I don't have an exact time (nor) how they would change out the locks."
Local representatives advised residents to continue reporting cluster mailbox thefts despite perceived inaction.
"There is a team in Washington DC that are working on the next generation (of locks)," Fitch told residents. "But the workaround we're seeing right now in the Bay Area where all the new locks have been installed is that (thieves) hold the mail carrier up at gunpoint."
Often, thieves steal mail in an effort to find things like paychecks, credit cards or other identifying information to facilitate identity fraud.
A Sacramento police representative said that generally mail theft is charged as a misdemeanor crime rather than a felony—which carries harsher punishments.
"So if we arrest someone for (mail theft), they're going to get a ticket, right?" said Capt. Daniel Monk. "Eventually they're going to go to court, or not go to court, and maybe it'll go to a warrant."
Tips Sacramento police mentioned as a way to combat the mail theft and its effects include:
- Always get your mail during the day, as cluster mailbox thieves often strike at night
- Set up a credit report monitoring system to know right away if someone is trying to use your information to commit identity fraud
- Transition as many as of your paper mail collections into digital and email collections to avoid the risk of mail theft
Fitch took suggestions from residents on how to better address cluster mailbox thefts and said his team will keep in touch with residents to follow-up on future solutions.
"We need to hold our leaders and our elected officials to the fire, and they need to do their job," said Lightstone.
