There has been a rash of assaults against postal workers in the Boston area, according to state prosecutors.
A 20-year-old man was accused of threatening a postal worker in Peabody with a gun and robbing them of their universal key—or Arrow Key—for blue collection boxes, according to prosecutors on Tuesday.
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“That key being stolen in Peabody could easily be used here in Framingham,” Deputy Chief Sean Riley of the Framingham Police Department said.
Police officials in Framingham warned not only postal workers to be aware of their surroundings, but, also, alerted residents that the rash of assaults against postal workers to get those universal keys could make them more susceptible to mail theft and fraud.
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“There’s a lot of private information we send every day in the mail,” Riley said.
State prosecutors said there have been at least 12 assaults against USPS letter carriers in the Boston area since July 2022. Of those 12 assaults, 10 involved Arrow Keys. Of those 10 incidents, with the keys, six of the robberies the suspects had guns, knives, or both.
Framingham police said we are probably seeing a rash of these robberies because the new style blue mailboxes are more difficult to steal from without a key.
“They’re thin and they have safety features where it’s much more difficult to get mail out of the mailbox,” Riley said.
Framingham police said, if you can, just go inside the post office and use secure checks, so the numbers on the check cannot be easily be altered, never leave mail in a box overnight, and try and drop your mail off close to pickup time.
