Watchdog Tip of the Day: Getting government records

What do you do when you have a hard time getting government records. Here are some ideas on open records, public information, sunshine laws from The Dallas Morning News Watchdog desk administrator Marina Trahan Martinez. In our Watchdog Video Tip of the Day, we try to solve problems in under a minute.
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Watchdog Nation Exposes Mailbox Bandits’ Crime Spree

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.


This is a Dave Lieber column for the Star-Telegram and Watchdog Nation about thefts from mailboxes and the secrecy behind them.

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