Retail Robberies: Staying Safe
(This article appears in the May-June 2014 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
Mike Gallagher, Eastern Regional Coordinator
There has been a rash of armed robberies of retail clerks recently in the Eastern Region, including a number of situations where clerks were confronted while having guns pointed at them. In another case, the perpetrator claimed he had a bomb. And readers have probably heard the sad news about a Letter Carrier who was robbed and murdered in Landover, MD in November and another who was beaten, tied up, and robbed in February.
The Postal Service has a responsibility to ensure a safe and secure environment for USPS employees. To meet that responsibility, the Inspection Service performs a risk analysis of each office and decides whether “baseline” or “high security” is needed. If the office is located in a low-crime area, baseline security is implemented; in medium-to high-crime areas, high security comes into play.
After developing a site-risk profile, depending on its analysis, the Inspection Service approves appropriate security-related systems, such as a closed circuit television system, access control system, bullet-resistant screen line, and burglar and duress alarms. The security measures are intended to protect employees during a robbery and to act as a deterrent to would-be robbers.
The Inspection Service provides the results of its analysis in writing to local management.
Local officers or stewards can request the risk analysis from local management and ensure the appropriate level of security equipment has been installed.
On a cautionary note, keep an eye out for suspicious strangers; make sure all doors leading to lobbies and the box area are locked; ensure that all employees are trained on the security features of your office, and make sure all security equipment is in proper working order. In case of a robbery, comply with the robber’s demands to help ensure your own safety and the safety of your co-workers.
After a robbery, the Inspection Service will want to know specifics of the incident, including a description of the perpetrator, the weapon involved, words spoken, the getaway method, etc., so try to remember as many details as possible.
Don’t hesitate to contact management or call the police, the Postal Inspection Service or a postal police officer if you believe you or your co-workers are in any danger whatsoever. For more information on robberies and/or security requirements, see Administrative Support Manual 226 and the RE-5 Handbook, Building and Site Security Requirements.
My fellow coordinators, Sharyn Stone, Kennith Beasley, Omar Gonzalez, and John Dirzius, and I remind you: Postal property, money, accountables, etc. can all be replaced; you, however, cannot. Be safe out there.
Vote for Your Own Best Interests
I recently had the opportunity to attend a political fundraiser for four candidates for Congress – two from Pennsylvania and two from New Jersey. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was there as well, and I had an opportunity to talk with her about a number of topics, including much-needed postal reform.
Pelosi, who now serves as Democratic Leader of the House, indicated that as long as Republicans control the House and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform committee, there is virtually no chance of passing positive postal legislation.
She lamented the lack of concern the majority of representatives display for working people and the dramatic income inequality between the extremely rich and the working poor. Republicans are indifferent to workers’ plight; they are without any interest or concern for working people, Pelosi said.
But she also noted that even though corporate interests pour 10 times the amount of money into congressional campaigns, the labor movement and working people still seem to have skin in the game. Despite the imbalance in financial contributions to candidates, we can help get worker-oriented candidates elected, by virtue of the number of people that we are able to organize and energize at election time. We can put feet on the street to get out the vote, Pelosi noted.
While I don’t always agree with her positions, I saw no flaws in her thinking in this regard. I believe the powerful right-wing interests have no concern whatsoever for the well-being of working people; in fact, recently they championed legislation that cut veterans’ benefits and unemployment benefits.
They will continue to try to divide us with the goal of tricking workers into voting against their own best interests. The very wealthy have turned back the clock to the days of old with their indifference to labor. I believe their failure to consider the suffering of the working poor, harkens back to the days of the robber baron Jay Gould, a leading American railroad developer and speculator, who became the ninth richest American in history. (See the article on the Ludlow Massacre on page 22.) Showing his arrogance and distain for working people, Gould was famously quoted as saying, “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”
We cannot afford to be divided. We must replace members of Congress who work against our interests in this year’s upcoming elections.