Post Office Seeks Help as Assaults on Carriers Rise

Postal officials urged residents of South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles today to help protect postal carriers, who face increasing threats of robbery and assaults on their daily rounds.

In a letter to about 100,000 households, Los Angeles Postmaster Charles King advised residents that the post office is encountering a “serious mail delivery problem” in the area because of threats to letter carriers.

“We need your help,” King said.

He envisions a “sort of neighborhood watch” in which residents would call the post office or the Police Department if carriers are attacked or are verbally abused.

King said that assaults on postal workers were up about 12% in fiscal year 1984, ending last Oct. 30, as compared to fiscal 1983. The problem seems to center around the delivery of Social Security and welfare checks on the 1st and 15th of the month, he said.

Some people meet the carrier on his route, ask for their check in advance and become angry when they are told that the check must be delivered to an address, not a person, King said. Sometimes, he said, a carrier is verbally attacked when a check does not arrive as expected.

While King characterized the problem as serious, he said he is not considering the possibility of halting mail service. There are many other steps that could be taken before such drastic action, he said.

Besides, he said, residents who received his letter have inundated the post office with telephone calls offering their help. “I’m very pleased,” he said. “The mail is going through and will continue to go through.”