Dallas-area postal workers want protections after robberies

Dallas-area postal workers are asking for more protections in light of several armed robberies in recent months.

Why it matters: Postal workers have long been the MVPs of America, but North Texas' extreme heat and the recent spike in robberies have made the job less desirable.

• "There was a time when letter carriers going through neighborhoods delivering mail were off limits to criminals. Those times have changed," Shawn Boyd of the National Association of Letter Carriers told the Star-Telegram last week.

Threat level: The U.S. Postal Service is offering up to $150,000 for help solving seven daytime robberies of North Texas postal workers between Dec. 28 and Feb. 9.

• Four of the robberies were in Dallas, two were in Fort Worth and one was in Arlington .

What they're doing: Postal workers rallied in Dallas last week to call attention to the risks they face and demand arrests in the robbery cases.

• "Now it's a fear. Now you're afraid … All of these robberies have caused a big change in the way a letter carrier performs their duties," Kim Lewis, whose NALC Branch 132 represents USPS letter carriers in North Texas and East Texas, told NBC5

Zoom out: The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says it launched a national initiative last spring to enforce theft laws, replace over 10,000 blue mail collection boxes with higher security versions and educate communities about postal worker safety.

• The inspection service arrested 109 people for robberies and more than 530 people for mail theft nationwide between May and October last year.
• Robbing a mail carrier is punishable by up to 10 years in prison . Hurting a mail carrier or putting their life in jeopardy during a robbery carries a sentence of up to 25 years.

Meanwhile: U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from the Dallas area, is among a group of lawmakers who have been pushing for stronger protections for mail carriers who work in extreme heat.

• Crockett has invited the widow of a Dallas mail carrier who died after working on a hot day last summer to be her guest at the State of the Union next week.

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