HAMBURG, N.Y. — The Town of Hamburg Police are investigating a robbery involving a United States Postal Service worker.
At around 11 a.m. Friday, police received reports of a robbery on McKinley Parkway, near Newton Road. A suspect displayed a knife and took a USPS key that accesses mailboxes and drop points in the Hamburg area.
2 on Your Side spoke Friday night with President David Grosskopf Jr. of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 3, which covers Western New York.
He explained: "She was approached by a man. She said he came out from behind the fence, and he brandished a pretty large knife and asked her, you know, if she was alone. She said she was and he asked where the keys were. She pointed to the mailbox, where they were hanging. The letter carrier did everything she was supposed to do from a safety standpoint. She didn't resist. She gave up the keys, and she got herself out of there as fast as possible. Ran to the closest home and asked that homeowner to call 911."
Grosskopf said that the employee was obviously shaken but was not hurt and that the robber took what is called arrow keys, which are used to open cluster boxes and even regular blue neighborhood postal collection boxes.
While relatively rare here in Western New York, Grosskopf says such robberies have been a major problem across the country as thieves rob postal workers to get these keys, including an armed robbery caught on surveillance video and the investigation following the shooting death just last month of a postal worker in Chicago.
"Approximately 400 letter carriers across the nation that have been robbed, assaulted, and or killed," Grosskopf said.
Grosskopf says those keys are used for general mail access and are valuable for thieves with an ultimate goal.
"What the thieves do is they will take the checks out of the mail," Grosskopf said. "It's called check washing. They will wash those checks; you know, put different numbers on there, and their name, and then go to the bank and present that as a legitimate check."
Grosskopf said it might be wise to take any mailed checks to an inside post office mail slot. His union wants even tougher penalties for attacks on post workers who are federal employees.
They also want overall better security with postal police handling more on-street duties to protect carriers, and an electronic lock system for post office collection, and community boxes with access by a scanner or fob, which could be disabled if such a robbery occurs.
Hamburg Police said in a social media post Friday that "residents are urged to report any suspicious activity they may observe at or near any USPS mailboxes."
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Town of Hamburg Police Department at 716-648-5111.