The United States Postal Service (USPS) is making good on their promise to “make mail safer” in a Bayside-based precinct.
On Jan. 10, the 111th Precinct posted photos on their Twitter account of new high-security mailboxes that were being installed to prevent incidents of mailbox fishing.
The installation of the new boxes is part of the USPS’ comprehensive plan to replace the standard blue boxes with what they deemed the “Cadillac of mailboxes.” Each box features a “small slit” measuring three-eighths of an inch to drop mail into as opposed to the larger opening that the traditional boxes have.
We are getting some remediated @USPS mailboxes today. pic.twitter.com/WMVhqYLdj6
— NYPD 111th Precinct (@NYPD111Pct) January 10, 2019
Northeast Queens has been the target of mail theft in recent months according to the precinct’s Captain John Hall. In the precinct’s 2018 crime stats report, the number of “unattended grand larcenies” including mailbox fishing, rose from 70 in 2017 to 124 in 2018. Incidents decreased once some mailboxes were replaced but picked up again during the last few months of the year.
To date, northeast Queens neighborhoods including Little Neck and Oakland Gardens have had mailboxes replaced and retrofitted but USPS said that they plan on swapping out all 206 mailboxes in Queens.
