The U.S. Postal Inspection Service was not going to share the information. But we got it anyway!
When we first learned that several blue collection mailboxes outside post offices had been broken into, the feds wouldn’t give us further details. Read the initial Watchdog Nation report from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram here.
Don't use these mailboxes anymore. Mail gets stolen from them, and authorities might not tell you.
But Watchdog Nation believes the public has a right to know. If you mail a bill and the mail is stolen, don’t you have a right to know that? The Postal Inspection Service said no because releasing that information would jeopardize its criminal investigation.
We didn’t settle for that. We filed a U.S. Freedom of Information Act request for the details. Good news! The letter arrived and we shared the information in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Here’s the report:
It took me three months to learn how many outdoor blue mail collection boxes in our area have been broken into by bandits who are still at large.
In January, we reported on mailbox break-ins outside several post offices, including in Haltom City, Keller, Bedford, Crowley and Fort Worth. Some were reported by readers and some were verified by police reports, but post office officials were tight-lipped.
At first, North Texas representatives of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service shut down my request for more information, saying that releasing when and where the mailbox thefts occurred could hurt their criminal investigations.
I filed a Freedom of Information Act request. The results are in.
More than 60 collection boxes in Tarrant County and nearby cities were broken into between January 2009 and Feb. 6, 2010, the date of my request.
Area Postal Inspection Service spokeswoman Amanda McMurrey, who originally denied my request for the information, declined to comment on the details, which came from the postal inspectors’ national headquarters in Arlington, Va.
If you’ve wondered about stolen mail from an outdoor collection mailbox, check the government’s newly released list of the locations of mail theft, vandalism and mail tampering incidents at outdoor collection boxes, and the dates they occurred.
Aledo
1165 Camp Bowie Blvd., 76008
March 7, 2009
Arlington
1975 Ballpark Way, 76006
May 20 and Oct. 8, 2009
Lamar Boulevard and Cooper Street, 76010
Jan. 6, 2010
2309 Roberts Circle, 76010
May 20, 2009
208 Billings St., 76010
Dec. 28, 2009
711 106th St., 76011
July 11, Oct. 8 and Oct. 22, 2009
715 W. Lamar Blvd., 76012
Oct. 16, 2009
110 W. Pioneer Parkway, 76012
Oct. 22, 2009
1615 W. Abram St., 76013
Dec. 14, 2009
221 Southwest Plaza, 76016
Oct. 5, 2009
4108 SW Green Oaks Blvd., 76017
Feb. 7 and July 12, 2009
4300 Beltway Place, 76018
Jan. 4, 2010
Bedford
601 Harwood Road, 76021
Oct. 9, 2009
1300 Harwood Road, 76021
Dec. 12, 2009
Burleson
232 SW Johnson Ave., 76028
Dec. 22, 2009
Crowley
200 S. Crowley Road, 76036
Dec. 12 and Dec. 14, 2009
Euless
210 N. Ector Dr., 76039
Oct. 29, 2009, and Jan. 16, 2010
Forest Hill
6605 Forest Hill Blvd., 76140
Dec. 27, 2009
Fort Worth
400 N. Retta St., 76111
Oct. 25 and Nov. 6, 2009
550 N. Beach St., 76111
Nov. 16, 2009
1475 Handley Dr., 76112
Oct. 19, Nov. 2, Nov. 17, Nov. 27, 2009, and Jan. 15, 2010
1051 Bridgewood Dr., 76112
June 2, 2009
5300 Boca Raton Blvd., 76112
Jan. 25, 2010
1117 Burton Hill Road, 76114
Dec. 31, 2009
3020 S. Cherry Lane, 76116
March 11 and Nov. 8, 2009, and Jan. 18, 2010
6421 Camp Bowie Blvd., 76116
Nov. 9, 2009
5429 Stanley Keller Road, 76117
Oct. 26, 2009
5125 Wichita St., 76119
Nov. 30, 2009
6705 Meadow Dr. 76120
Nov. 17, 2009
Handley Post Office, 76124
Jan. 5 and Jan. 12, 2010
7101 Bryant Irvin Road, 76132
Oct. 12, 2009, and Jan. 28, 2010
4701 Alta Mesa Blvd., 76133
Oct. 17 and Dec. 22, 2009
3701 Alta Mesa Blvd., 76133
Nov. 18, 2009
6111 N. Beach St., 76137
Aug. 31, 2009
Mark IV Parkway, 76161
Oct. 27, 2009
Haltom City
5709 Broadway, 76117
Dec. 15, 2009, and Jan. 3, 2010
5700 N. Beach St., 76137
Aug. 31, 2009
Haslet
1097 Schoolhouse Road, 76052
Oct. 9, 2009
Hurst
815 Precinct Line Road, 76053
Jan. 14, 2010
Keller
520 E. Vine St., 76248
Dec. 19, 2009
North Richland Hills
6051 Davis Blvd., 76180
Nov. 23, Nov. 26 and Dec. 9, 2009
Sanger
1008 N. Fifth St., 76266
Oct. 22, 2009
Watauga
6651 Watauga Road, 76148
Jan. 19, 2010
