Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. Without the authority of a federal agency, it’s proved difficult to follow the evidence much further. “I don’t know why they can’t backtrack to find that guy that was forging these checks,” said the business owner, who noted that the person taking his checks tried to cash them using a fake business name, registered with the state, resembling the name of his business.ĬBS 2 tried to track down the fake business by going to the sham address, but hit a dead end. This plan for the future doesn’t help those still suffering from open cases. Postal inspectors would not say whether the plan includes getting rid of arrow keys. The locations and timing for installation of those locks and boxes in Chicago are still to be determined. It’s a dent in USPS’s total number of mailboxes, 139,409 nationwide. The plan includes adding 49,000 advanced electronic locks and 12,000 high-security collection boxes to “high-risk” areas nationwide. “We’re in the process of hardening targets to make them less desirable by these criminals,” said Bucciarelli. There is a possible silver lining for blue boxes – a new plan to help this problem. When pressed to explain why there were still nearly 16,000 open cases, Bucciarelli said, “I think those numbers are inaccurate, so I don’t want to comment on that.” “We have the resources aligned with where they need to be to best investigate these cases,” said Bucciarelli. USPIS claims that the arrest number is higher. They’ve investigated 77 and made 36 arrests. USPIS data shows 16,000 theft reports in Chicago between January 2020 and March 2023. When told that information came from his agency, he said, “Again, I don’t want to discuss that information because I feel that information is incorrect.”įollowing our interview, USPIS pointed to at least three arrow-key-related arrests that happened after we received our data from them. “I feel the information you have might not be 100 percent correct,” said Nicholas Bucciarelli, Assistant Inspector in Charge, Chicago Division, US Postal Inspectors. The data also showed USPS hadn’t made a single arrest for an arrow-key-related theft between 2020 and March 2023.
When CBS 2 began asking postal inspectors about theft, the conversation became repetitive, especially about Chicago-specific data CBS 2 received through the Freedom of Information Act.ĬBS 2 found that the agency hadn’t been keeping track of arrow key thefts until 2021, according to the USPIS data obtained by CBS Chicago. The postal inspectors investigated this small business owner’s case in 2021. “I think it’s scary,” the business owner said, “that one key can open all the mailboxes in any given zone.” The same key opens everything across a particular zone.
Postal carriers use it to open blue boxes and large mailboxes in apartments or condo buildings. Every blue mailbox has a key called an arrow key.
0 kommentar(er)
