* **15-Month Delay:** The FY2024 Annual Report was released in January 2026, more than a year overdue. * **Crime Wave:** Despite claims of success, arrow key thefts surged 150% and high-volume mail theft attacks rose 156% over five years. * **Police Force Gutted:** The Postal Police Force has been reduced by over 70% since 2000, leaving few uniformed officers to prevent crime. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has finally released its FY2024 Annual Report, arriving more than 15 months after the fiscal year ended. This delay represents a significant transparency failure during what is widely considered the worst postal crime wave in modern history. While the report highlights a 27% drop in letter carrier robberies and a 20% decrease in mail theft complaints, a deeper look at the underlying numbers tells a different story. Critics argue that USPIS has prioritized reactive investigations over proactive prevention, allowing vulnerabilities to fester. "This isn’t about mail thieves suddenly becoming criminal masterminds. It’s about policy choices. Prevention was sidelined. Deterrence was dismantled," the report analysis suggests. The financial toll is clear. Check fraud losses exceeded $20 billion last year, with a significant portion tied to stolen mail. Consumer fraud losses also jumped 25% to $12.5 billion. **Glaring Omissions** The report notably omits detailed data on two critical drivers of postal crime: arrow keys and high-volume mail theft attacks. These figures, obtained only through FOIA requests, show a 150% surge in arrow key thefts from 2020 to 2024. Recovery rates for these keys have collapsed to near zero. High-volume mail theft attacks—strikes on collection boxes and delivery vehicles—have exploded by 156% since FY2019, reaching over 52,000 incidents in a single year. **Enforcement in Decline** Despite the rising crime, enforcement metrics have plummeted. Mail-theft arrests are down 46% since FY2018, and convictions have fallen 40%. In FY2024, USPIS secured just 1,259 mail-theft convictions nationwide against more than 52,000 high-volume attacks. The Postal Police Force, the only uniformed federal force dedicated to protecting the mail, has been systematically dismantled. From over 1,400 officers in 2000, only about 400 remain today—a 70% reduction enacted by policy choice. As the Postal Service faces billions in losses, the report underscores a critical gap: you cannot investigate your way out of a crime wave; legitimate prevention requires a visible, uniformed deterrent.