The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is bolstering security at postal facilities across the country, deploying armed and unarmed guards at key locations.
The USPIS, which is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service, said the guards are being deployed alongside existing postal police officers.
Brian Benson, a spokesperson for the USPIS Denver Division, said the added security is not in response to any specific threat or event but is part of a multi-year plan to boost security at postal facilities.
"They are deployed to provide security and act as a deterrent to criminals or employees who may wish to compromise the mailstream or potentially harm the people inside," Benson said in a statement to the Scripps News Group.
Benson did not say exactly which facilities are getting security guards, citing operational security.
When asked for more information about the postal service's multi-year security plan, he directed us to file an open records request.
A memo distributed to American Postal Workers Union members, which was first reported by Colorado Public Radio, said armed guards will monitor entrances and parking areas, verify IDs and observe and report suspicious activity.
The memo said guards will not conduct arrests, handle or process mail, supervise postal employees or conduct investigations.
The timing of the deployment is raising red flags for some elected officials.
The security guards showed up less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked parts of the Trump administration's mail-in voting restrictions, and less than two weeks before ballots are set to hit Colorado mailboxes.
RELATED STORY |"Postal workers are our allies. They are folks that are also public servants, and these are folks that do not need to be intimidated or anybody, you know, getting in their way as they're delivering mail, and that includes our elections mail as well too," López said. "I hope it's nothing more than just folks who are going to be protecting postal service workers."
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Democratic nominee for governor, posted on X calling the timing "suspicious" and saying the added guards are "a cause for concern."
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet also
posted on X, calling on USPS to explain the reason behind the guards.This story was originally published by Maggie Bryan with the Scripps News Group station in Denver.
