Across the country, communities have seen a rise postal crimes in recent years. One neighborhood in Northeast D.C. is not only dealing with stolen mail, but also mail that’s being burned.
Daniel Hartmann, Homeowners Association president for the Village at Dakota Crossing, told WTOP that residents found torched mail in piles on the ground on at least six occasions since late July. Hartmann said most of the mail is being dumped in a park outside the Fort Lincoln Drive development.
“It’s so violating,” he said. “You expect your mail to make it from point A to point B without any problem and it’s just such a shame that we’re having to deal with this.”
Hartmann said the mail theft from locked mailboxes in the development began in May, but the burning of mail only began in recent weeks.
He believes whoever’s responsible stole a postal master key because, except for one instance, the mailboxes haven’t been forced open or tampered with. The Village has a mix of more than 300 townhomes and townhome condominiums.
Serious crimes against postal workers and property have increased every year from 2020 to 2023, according to data from the Government Accountability Office. In 2023, there were nearly 1,200 serious postal crimes, with carrier robberies accounting for about half of them.
In cities throughout the nation, postal workers have been threatened or held up at gunpoint including in the D.C. area.
To prevent mail theft, people are warned against sending cash through the mail and to send packages to a local post office for pickup.
Hartmann said residents reported the stolen mail to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Hartmann said he’s been in touch with U.S. Postal Inspectors and understands they are taking the matter seriously, but is frustrated that residents aren’t getting more information on the investigation’s status. One resident told WTOP that USPS has now informed them that they are in the process of changing the master locks in the area.
“Sometimes your mailbox is full and sometimes it’s not, and what if it got hit and you weren’t aware of it? So it is extremely frustrating for everybody involved,” Hartmann said.
In a statement to WTOP, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said due to the circumstances of the investigation, USPIS can’t provide more details, but it is actively investigating in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
“The community can rest assure that all resources available have been allocated to this investigation,” the statement reads.
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