2 Bay Area cities had most postal robberies in California in 2023, data shows
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Mail carrier Bill Murphy estimates he walks over 10 miles a day -- around 25,000 steps -- on his East Bay delivery route. He's taking each of those steps more carefully these days.
"I've had two incidents of being robbed while a letter carrier," Murphy said, and he isn't alone.
MORE: Letter carrier robberies continue as the US Postal Service, union, and lawmakers seek solutions
Across the country, mail carriers are increasingly being held up at gunpoint while on their daily delivery routes. In the Bay Area, data recently released to ABC7 News shows San Francisco and Oakland had the greatest number of postal robberies in California during 2023.
According to a data analysis by the ABC7 data journalism team, there were 145 postal robberies in California in 2023. Approximately 61% of statewide robberies of postal workers last year occurred in the Bay Area. About 23% of statewide postal robberies occurred in San Francisco and about 16% happened in Oakland.
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This past April, Murphy was robbed while unloading mail from his truck. He says a woman in a ski mask grabbed an entire tray of mail.
"I was shocked, I couldn't believe that someone would do such a brazen thing in broad daylight. The whole incident was over in less than a minute," said Murphy.
In August, Murphy was victimized again and this time there was a weapon.
VIDEO: $150K reward posted after mail carriers attacked in 2 separate SF incidents: 'They are being hunted'
"I was approached by a man brandishing a shotgun," Murphy recounted. "'Give me your keys and give me your postal satchel.' Man, it's finally happening to me."
San Francisco zip code 94110, which includes the Mission and Bernal Heights neighborhoods, had the most crime in total against postal workers last year. There were at least six robberies and one assault of mail carriers in the area.
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"Our mailbox has been broken into 10 to 15 times over the last two to three years," Bernal Heights resident Reed Jones previously told ABC7 News.
"It's wrong and it needs to stop," said Murphy, later adding, "My customers are being robbed. They're stealing their prescriptions, they're stealing their passports, their green cards, their credit cards, their kids report cards, any of their personal correspondence."
Mail carriers have been sounding the alarm, with the National Association of Letter Carriers holding rallies like this one in October of last year, saying enough is enough.
"It's a traumatic injury, it's psychological -- you know all they're trying to do is go out there and do their job and serve the public," said Edward Fletcher, National Association of Letter Carriers President. "And now they have to go out there and they have to have their heads on a swivel constantly watching to see did a car pull up, is somebody following me."
MORE: Bay Area postal workers demand better protections amid rising attacks, threats
"This is so bad that it's affecting the delivery of the mail," Fletcher added.
In an effort to catch who is responsible for these crimes, the United States Postal Inspection has raised the reward for reporting mail crimes from $50,000 to $150,000.
Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.
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