JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Over 300 people rallied in downtown Jacksonville to bring community awareness to the recent attacks against mail carriers on Saturday.
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Over 2,000 letter carriers have been attacked across the United States, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). Six of those attacks were in Jacksonville.
The letter carriers were joined by residents, community leaders, and the NALC branch presidents from across the country.
Mina was one of six carriers that were attacked while on the job.
“I was delivering into a complex that requires keys to get into the mailbox, and maybe 20 seconds into delivering, a guy ran up to me with a ski mask on with his gun towards my heart wanting the keys and it was wrapped around my belt loop. So he was rushing me to take it off,” Mina said.
Carriers like Steven had mail and other items taken from his truck while delivering.
“They got my keys that were in there, my personal keys, and then they went to our station and stole my vehicle,” Steven said.
The letter carriers were joined by residents, community leaders, and the NALC branch presidents from across the country.
Jim Thigpenn, Jacksonville president of the NALC spoke at the rally about the attacks on the Jacksonville mail carriers.
“I mean, every single neighborhood we’ve had situations where it happened on the Northside, and then the half hour later, it happened on the Westside in one day. And this is just not tied to a certain side of town or anything like that. It’s more of a targeted type situation.”
Thigpenn said he was attacked while delivering mail in 2015.
“I did have a gun put to my head, but it was by a teenager who was just showing off for a couple of friends while I was delivering on the westside of Jacksonville and it was intimidating,” Thigpenn said.
He added that the carriers shouldn’t have to worry about what they will face while doing their jobs.
Elise Foster, the president of the Chicago NALC chapter, said they want to put what’s happening in the public so the community can help them feel safe when they’re delivering the mail.
“In Chicago, they watched a carrier from the beginning of the route to the end of the block. The community is our greatest advocate and they will look out and help us,” Foster said.
The NALC said Jacksonville letter carriers are increasingly becoming targets of robberies and physical assaults.
“These brazen crimes, once exceedingly rare but now growing more frequent and more violent here, elsewhere in the state and beyond, are hurting letter carriers, leading to stolen mail, and damaging our community. The attacks hardly ever occurred just a few years ago; now they are increasingly common. This is unacceptable and must stop now,” the NALC said in a press release.
Brian Renfroe, the national president of the NALC talked about what would make the mail carriers feel more safe.
“If I had to prioritize, I would say first federal prosecution. They are federal crimes and the prosecution rights are alarmingly low,” Renfroe said.