[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
KVUE came upon a 2020 audit by the Office of Inspector General which discovered that “the Postal Service’s management controls over arrow keys were ineffective.”
AUSTIN, Texas — More mail thieves are focused on Austin-area neighborhoods.
A southwest Austin group has been hit virtually day by day, and citizens inform the KVUE Defenders that the United States Postal Service (USPS) hasn’t carried out a lot to prevent it.
Not one, two or 3, however 4 other thefts locally have all been stuck on digital camera.
“I’d say the frequency of thefts continues to increase with kind of the access of these arrow keys being available,” mentioned Stuart, a neighborhood Austin HOA president.
Stuart has asked that his ultimate identify and group identities be withheld out of worry of persisted thefts. He mentioned they are incessantly taking place.
“Packages, other sensitive mail as far as, you know, driver’s licenses, checks, credit cards. And it’s a real concern,” Stuart mentioned.
Cluster mailboxes are lovely commonplace throughout Austin and throughout many communities. The factor with mailboxes like those is {that a} grasp key can open one mailbox in the midst of a cluster, which in flip makes all of the gadget obtainable.
That’s the issue Stuart believes is occurring in his group. He believes thieves have get admission to to a grasp key, often referred to as an arrow key.
“[They can] quickly gain access, empty the mailboxes, get in their vehicle, whether that’s a motorcycle or a stolen vehicle and … take off,” Stuart mentioned.
It’s a large factor for the USPS.
“The unauthorized possession of a postal key or a reproduction of that key is a federal felony. And it is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and substantial fines,” mentioned Silvia Torres, a U.S. Postal inspector.
Torres works as an inspector right here in Texas. She mentioned crimes like those are severe, bringing up the new federal indictments by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of 2 individuals who stole mailbox keys from Austin postal employees and assaulted them.
“Every letter carrier deserves to work their route in peace and safety. And we hope that this sends the message that we are not going to stop investigating these crimes and we will find you,” Torres mentioned.
But the query stays: What is being carried out about those locks and their keys? The KVUE Defenders requested and Torres directed us again to the native post workplace, which informed us, “With regards to the keys, the specific details you seek are not available.”
However, KVUE came upon a 2020 audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) which discovered, “The Postal Service’s management controls over arrow keys were ineffective.” The OIG additionally discovered, “The number of arrow keys in circulation, lost, stolen, and broken nationwide is not known, but the Postal Service estimates the number to be in the millions.”
Victims like Stuart say USPS must be the usage of extra safe and trendy manner.
“If you can use magnetic kind of keys, the type of keying system that they’re using for these drop off boxes now within Austin, that would be an excellent solution,” Stuart mentioned.
Torres mentioned an answer is already within the works.
“They’re working on changing the technology of the locks. They’re going to there’s about 49,000 electronic locks, which will replace traditional locks, and this will devalue that postal key,” Torres mentioned.
Both mentioned that in the case of movies like those, it is extraordinarily unnerving and a topic that continues to plague the U.S.
[/gpt3]
