Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Mail carrier Everett Goodrich of Warren, working out of the Warren post office on High Street, delivers mail late last week. Jont’e Davis, a postal worker in Warren, was shot to death March 2 while delivering mail, but it is not yet clear whether it was related to his work as a mail carrier.

It remains to be seen whether last weekend’s shooting death of Warren-area mail carrier Jont’e J. Davis, 33, was related to his position as a mail carrier or something else.

But U.S. Postal Service workers have been dealing with a particularly challenging problem in recent years: robberies, especially ones in which the perpetrator sought to obtain the mail carrier’s arrow key, which opens boxes containing mail.

They are called arrow keys because they fit into locks made by the Arrow Lock Manufacturing Co. of Connecticut.

There were two incidents in Youngstown in 2023 in which mail carriers were robbed of their arrow key. Neither mail carrier was injured. But the robberies introduced the Youngstown area to the problem, which has been more pronounced in other areas, including Cleveland, and has even produced a bill in Washington aimed at reducing such thefts.

The most recent incident in Youngstown was in December.

A mail carrier working on Kensington Avenue on Youngstown’s North Side reported at 3:21 p.m. Dec. 11 that two males wearing masks approached him after the suspects got out of a black Dodge Caravan.

They approached the mail carrier with their hands in their pockets, motioning and waving as if they had guns in their pockets. Both were wearing black clothing, were slim and about 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, according to a Youngstown police report.

One of them said, “Give us the keys,” and the victim gave them the keys to his mail truck. Then one said, “Nah. You know what we want.” So the carrier gave them the arrow key, which the victim said is a master key that allows him to access lock boxes and doors. The suspects also asked for the worker’s phone, but it was in the mail truck. The suspects fled in the Caravan with the arrow key.

The carrier told police this type of robbery has been more common in the Cleveland area.

A similar robbery occurred in January 2023 in the 400 block of North Osborn Avenue on Youngstown’s West Side.

The mail carrier in that incident said he was returning to his truck after delivering mail and saw a man walking toward him with his hands in his sweatshirt pocket.

The suspect ordered the mail carrier to give him his phone and wallet, but the carrier said he did not have those things. The man then brandished the butt of a handgun and said: “Don’t be reaching.”

The mail carrier was holding his delivery truck key and an arrow key. He placed them on the porch of the home where he had just delivered mail.

The suspect then ordered him to step away from the porch, took the two keys and fled on foot on Connecticut Avenue toward Meridian Road.

POST OFFICE STATS

Local postmasters from Youngstown and Warren did not reply to requests for comment.

Naddia Dhalai, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, provided a news release, but declined to comment further.

According to the news release, 412 USPS letter carriers were robbed on the job during its fiscal year 2022, while 305 incidents of carriers being robbed were reported in the first half of fiscal year 2023 alone.

The release also reported a high level of mail thefts, including those from blue collection boxes, with 38,500 in fiscal year 2022 and 25,000 in 2023.

According to the release, USPS and the Postal Inspection Service have made efforts to expand its Project Safe Delivery crime prevention initiative. The goal of the project is to “protect postal employees and facilities, prevent mail and package theft, and enforce the law against individuals who perpetrate crimes against postal employees or engage in mail and package theft.”

To help achieve this goal, the postal service committed to reducing letter-carrier robberies and mail theft; installing 12,000 high-security blue collection boxes across the United States; and replacing 49,000 “antiquated” arrow locks with electronic locks.

USPS also committed to preventing change of address fraud and defeating counterfeit postage.

The news release also provided suggested actions that residents can take to help protect their letter carriers, including not letting outgoing or incoming mail sit in their mailbox; depositing outgoing mail through secure manners, including inside their local post office or at place of business or by handing it to a letter carrier; becoming involved in neighborhood watch groups and spreading awareness on social media; and reporting any suspicious activity involving letter carriers to local authorities.

DAVIS SLAYING

Davis had been delivering mail in a postal-service vehicle along Olive Street NE in Warren on March 2 when he was found shot at 1:44 p.m. after officers responded to a shots-fired call. Police say Davis was fired upon by someone in another vehicle.

Davis later died at Trumbull Regional Medical Center. A witness said a dark gray, four-door pickup truck pulled alongside Davis’ vehicle as a backseat passenger fired four or five shots into Davis’ mail truck. Davis’ vehicle continued on Olive Street before stopping at Scott Street just north of downtown. Davis was still in the driver’s seat of the postal vehicle after the vehicle came to rest, a witness said.

The pickup truck authorities believe was involved was recovered from the driveway of a home at 429 Maryland Ave. NE a few hours later. Several individuals were questioned. Authorities said they believe the suspects and Davis knew each other.

The USPS is offering up to a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s).

A GoFundMe social media page organized by Davis’ family contains a message that reads, “The loss of Jont’e has been completely devastating for our family, and we are reaching out to our friends, family and community to ask for support during this incredibly difficult time. We understand times are tough for many, and any support you can provide is greatly appreciated. The community support we have received thus far has been nothing short of amazing.”

So far, the family has raised $3,745 of its $10,000 goal.

Davis, a father of 10, lived in Warren, was a Warren G. Harding High School graduate and had worked at the U.S. Postal Service for one year as a letter carrier and had earlier worked as a tow-motor operator and food-service company driver, according to his obituary. He attended technical school and Kent State University. His funeral services were Saturday.

OHIO LEGISLATION

Reporters in Cleveland noticed an uptick in thefts related to arrow keys several years ago. Frank Albergo, head of the Postal Service Police Association, told the Cleveland television station News 5 in 2021 that the problem increased after a 2020 directive to U.S. Postal Service Police to stop investigating mail thefts off postal service property. It did not stop investigations of theft on postal service property.

Albergo said a postal police officer patrolling in areas where theft against postal workers was happening was an effective tool that was taken away.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and others have tried to reverse the policy through discussions with the postmaster general. And Nov. 29, Brown and others introduced the Postal Police Reform Act to return postal police officers to patrol duties outside of post offices.

Brown said at the time that the Postal Police Reform Act would “help address the steep increase in armed robberies against postal workers, who are often targeted for their ‘arrow’ master keys.”

Brown cited the Postal Inspection Service in stating that armed robberies of letter carriers increased sharply between 2018 and 2021. Postal workers often carry arrow master keys, which can command thousands of dollars on the clandestine market because they allow access to cluster mailboxes and their contents.

The Dayton Daily News reported Nov. 2 that Ohio had 23 reports of arrow key thefts from Jan. 1, 2023, to Oct. 27, 2023. There were no such thefts in 2020, eight in 2021 and 34 in 2022, the newspaper reported.

Brown’s office said last week there had been no hearings or votes on the bill so far, but that was not unusual, especially because of the number of other matters pending in recent months.

Reporter Mason Cole contributed to this story.