00:00A chance to hear your comments about the workability of this subcommittee, I hope is important to anyone who is listening,
00:11because when we do work together, I think we achieve so much more.
00:16I would ask unanimous consent that a statement provided by the National Association of Postal Supervisors,
00:24being at the record, Mr. Chuck Muldor, who is in attendance today with Mr. Levy, and I welcome both of you.
00:32Without objection, that will be entered into the record.
00:35Good to see both of you.
00:36It is good to see both of you.
00:38Chief Holloway, you heard Mr. Mfume give strong credence and support to postal workers,
00:49postal employees that also include their law enforcement,
00:54and the men and women who take an obligation to deliver our mail fairly, quickly, properly.
01:05Sometimes we, and I think it's the reason why you were included on here, at least the reason why I included you,
01:11was we also count on our local partners.
01:14And you represent, by being a chief in Florida of a large department,
01:22you recognize that we just don't have enough postal police officers, inspector generals,
01:31and those postal inspectors to be looking out everywhere, every time.
01:36Talk to us about a reasonableness issue related to the way you see it,
01:42about your officers, your command, your use of your force in support of crimes that may be committed
01:50against people, including the United States Postal Service.
01:56Thank you very much, Henry, for that question.
01:58Yeah, I'm sorry, sir.
01:59Is your microphone on?
02:01It is, sir.
02:02Okay.
02:02I need to turn my hearing aid up.
02:05I don't have one, but I'll pay attention here.
02:08Thank you, sir.
02:09Thank you again, sir.
02:10And thank you for the question.
02:12In the city of St. Petersburg, we have over 602 officers,
02:15and our partnership with the United States Postal Inspector Services work quite well,
02:20because it gives us that added tool that we need to help enforce the crime there in our community.
02:25Again, as I said earlier in the statement, it breaks down some of the walls to give the investigators
02:30the ability to go throughout the county, throughout the state,
02:33to follow these criminals no matter where they are.
02:36Our main primary goal is to make sure that the citizens in the city of St. Petersburg
02:40are safe at all times, and the people that work there, our mail carriers.
02:44So when there is an issue that we want to be working hand-in-hand with the inspectional services
02:49to make sure that we can address that, I can tell you, I only can speak for the Tampa Bay region,
02:54that when something does happen, that the inspectors and the local law enforcement officers are working hand-in-hand together
03:00to figure out how we're going to, one, make sure that mail service, the mail person is safe,
03:06and also make sure the community is safe.
03:08The biggest thing that we see early, again, like I said earlier, is that the victims,
03:14when their checks or when their credit cards are stolen from them, there was no follow-up,
03:19because it happens in one jurisdiction, and the suspect will go to another jurisdiction,
03:24and those two local law enforcement agencies are only going to handle the crime that occurred in their city,
03:31whereas working with our federal partners, it allows us the opportunity to go across those barriers
03:36so we can bring not only those suspects into custody, but also to bring these victims what they need, closure,
03:43because even though the money is put back into their accounts, they're still a victim of identity theft,
03:49and they still have to live through that.
03:50So that's our job to make sure that we continue to bring closure to those victims
03:56and also make sure we get these suspects in custody.
04:00Very nice.
04:01So you are stretched also for your resources.
04:09I'm very fortunate, Chair, that my mayor, my city council, whatever we need,
04:14were able to get those resources available to us.
04:17Again, I only can speak for my city and my law enforcement.
04:21Could we use more law enforcement officers out there?
04:23Of course we can, but at the same time, when we have an issue,
04:27we have the right resources that we can bring to those issues that are needed.
04:31So I heard you say without you saying it that you believe that if there's a crime perpetrated against someone,
04:39a male, some sort of a male crime, that you would, in fact, take, go and initiate, write a report,
04:50and then do you then refer that, generally speaking, to the postal inspectors?
04:57Or what is your process, or do you even know what that might be?
05:02No, sir.
05:02Because we have an officer, a detective, assigned now to the postal inspector service,
05:08so we have a task force officer, so he is available now, and he can investigate those crimes,
05:14where before we were part of his task force, it would just sit there.
05:17It would just be a report number waiting for someone to look at it.
05:20Now with us joining this task force 18 months ago, we're now actively working these cases each and every day.
05:27So when a case is reported to the St. Petersburg Police Department, we actively look into it,
05:32and we use our partners at the post office to make sure we can continue these investigations.
05:38Without putting words into your mouth, because you have this association that is a working, strong working relationship,
05:48is there, generally speaking, a time of the year that you believe your officers would be reminded
05:54and there would be a higher level of understanding to be looking for mail crimes, postal crimes to occur,
06:06to where, because you do have that relationship, it helps your officers to spot and solve these matters?
06:13It does, but that detective assigned to the task force, when he sees something, he can report it back to our intelligence units,
06:20and we can put a bullet out so those zone officers or even our surveillance team will know where to go,
06:25so they can provide protection for those mail carriers when we see an issue that we need to address,
06:31or that we get information that we're looking for certain suspects, that we can also be able to follow those suspects
06:37and make sure there's no harm caused to our mail carriers in the city of St. Petersburg.
06:42It is refreshing for me to hear that you care about them as you do any other citizen, and thank you very much.
06:52Mr. Rothstein or Mr. Donahue, do you have an understanding about maybe the success,
07:01success that might be turned about, and I'm going to use the wrong term, but there was a term maybe notice of delivery.
07:09I have had that in my mail, or where they notify you of the delivery.
07:15Do you perceive that you could use that as a tool where you know you had certain post offices,
07:23or where you had certain areas where there were checks that came in, or an abundance of something,
07:30to where you would then notify, it's easier to find I assume also a piece of mail that has been, I'll call it tagged,
07:40a notice of delivery.
07:42Does that help you in your investigative duties proactively,
07:49or can you discuss that viewpoint that I think I've had about maybe this is an important way to help you solve crimes?
07:58Yes, Chairman, I believe that INC Donahue talked about the informed delivery system,
08:01and again, it's one way that any postal customer can sign up for the Postal Service's informed delivery system,
08:07that will give them an email to their email of choice of the letters and now even packages that are slated to be delivered to that address.
08:17So that customer, that postal customer who's expecting a credit card or expecting a check,
08:23will have an actual image of that envelope and that mail that is supposed to be delivered for them.
08:29And again, this goes into being a good consumer.
08:32If you don't receive it, you're given notice that, well, sometimes delays happen.
08:37Give it a couple days.
08:38If you don't receive it within three days, I always say give the OIG a call, right?
08:43Because again, if it was on the mailman's part, that is primarily our responsibility to investigate the internal employees if they're involved.
08:51Go to our hotline, file a complaint, give our OIG a call, and we do use data for that.
08:59I know that the ranking member talked about data and the difference.
09:02Yes, there's the difference between victims of violent crime as well as looking at the data.
09:07But the data does enlighten and give our agents insight into what's happening.
09:12If you're familiar with military threat attack doctrine or cyber crime, there's a term called zero day.
09:19And that is the time of realization of that vulnerability when it's either a cyber attack or a military attack.
09:25The zero day when it comes time to financial crime is the realization that your accounts have been compromised.
09:32A check has been stolen.
09:34Someone has withdrawn amounts or charged to your credit card or created another credit card in your name.
09:41That happens, unfortunately, so much later because sometimes consumers are either not very, again, vigilant in checking their credit card statements and check statements,
09:53or they're just simply unaware fraud has happened.
09:56What the data has done, especially with this data sharing partnership that we have with the Treasury Department and more than a dozen banks in the United States,
10:05is that we get this data and we are informed about credit cards and checks that are not delivered in the requisite amount of time.
10:15And it allows us sometimes to act even before that fraud is committed or that check is converted or stolen on the, again, encrypted messaging apps.
10:25And that's a huge tool in reducing the cost to consumers, huge in reducing the cost to financial institutions.
10:32And it gives us a leg up because now we know what financial instrument has been compromised.
10:38And we could look through the, again, the platforms that we know are being used for illicit sales and resales of these stolen items that were stolen from the mail.
10:48And so it gives law enforcement a leg up.
10:50And so when you talk about successes, again, it's one thing to talk about how this is effective.
10:57I wouldn't necessarily call it successes right now because we are seeing, again, similar actions like this that we don't have the resources to respond to from last year and projected this year alone.
11:10We use data in all these data sources to examine what are the potentially similar different types of cases that we don't have the resources to open.
11:19And, unfortunately, that number is over 100,000 different cases.
11:22And, quite frankly, with 450 agents, we're limited in what actions we do take.
11:27And so it makes us more effective.
11:29But we're far from, I think, seeing the success that the American public really deserves in having their financial instruments, their heart and money secured.
11:39I think that what you've said is not just a positive attribute of the system but shows its flexibility with the ability to proactively
11:48contact customers to let them know, offer services, and do those things.
11:54One of the things which I regularly try and do is I try and give tips or feedback to people, whether it be about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.
12:04I really need to include something about this informed delivery.
12:10And while I've been a part of it in the past, I did not know how I got it.
12:16It showed up.
12:18I became aware of it.
12:20I think it was a positive thing.
12:22But I definitely think that someone that is looking for something that has been talked about, not just Mr. Frost, not just Virginia Fox, not just Ms. Randall, but valuables.
12:38That I'm looking for something as opposed to something showing up.
12:44I think that that would be a hot tip that I would be pleased to notify my people.
12:50Lastly, the issue of cluster boxes.
12:56Cluster boxes have created within the congressional district that I represent in largely new areas, large areas where maybe a new homeowners association was formed or a new housing project came in.
13:16Does anybody have any advice about something that they've learned about how to better secure them, data and information that might be a tip to a consumer?
13:30Any one of you?
13:32So in regard to cluster boxes and securing them, I think one of the most important things that somebody is a resident of a neighborhood that has a cluster box, if there is damage to it, either if it's due to purposeful damage or if it is inadvertent damage, that they report that so that that can be repaired.
13:52I see so often where cluster box units and even in apartment buildings, those apartment mailbox panels, they become damaged and then they become potential targets for theft and go unreported.
14:04And so to the extent that it can be shared with the public to report those instances when it's damaged to do so.
14:12And that also affords us and the Postal Service the ability to determine whether or not potentially that cluster box unit was broken into and if it was purposeful or if there was some other reason for it.
14:24And so it also affords us the opportunity to work with the homeowners association to get it repaired.
14:32Good.
14:34Good.
14:35Good.
14:36Good.
14:37Good.
14:38Good.
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14:40Good.
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14:55Good.
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14:59Good.
15:00Good.
15:01Good.
15:02Good.
15:03Good.
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