Post Office Plagued by Holdups

Despite years of lobbying, the post office here doesn’t even have its own ZIP code. But now it has another--and less desirable--claim to fame: It’s been robbed three times in the past three months.

Postal officials call the number unusual.

The most recent robbery occurred Friday when three thieves made off with roughly $13,000, Los Angeles police said. Shortly before 5 p.m., the robbers burst into the lobby of the post office in the 9400 block of Arleta Avenue and surprised a crowd of people waiting in line, post office spokeswoman Pamela Prince said.

Prince said two of the men were armed with handguns, and as they held up the clerks, the third robber paced around the lobby and glared at customers.

The robbery was the third at the branch since Sept. 12. Now, Prince said, “discussions are being had to determine the need for a bulletproof screen-line” around the clerks.

Prince said that the Postal Service trains its employees how to respond to robberies and that the Arleta branch has surveillance cameras. Most postal robberies, she said, happen on mail routes rather than in post offices.

Nevertheless, she said, the number of post office robberies in Southern California has been increasing in recent years.