North Oakland Post Office burgled of mail, postal keys

The North Oakland Post Office was burgled of mail and keys on Feb. 18.

OAKLAND, Calif. - The North Oakland Post Office was burgled of mail and postal keys, including the keys to the federal trucks, according to the postal inspector.

Postal Inspector Matthew Norfleet said two men wearing dark clothes entered the building at 4900 Shattuck Avenue on Feb. 18 at 1 a.m.

The post office is in a little strip mall flanked by stores including Walgreens and Cholita Linda.

It's not clear how they got in but Norfleet said there is some surveillance video of the men inside the office.

Despite the fact that keys were stolen, Norfleet said no actual vehicles were taken.

"The only purpose for stealing postal keys is to steal mail and commit financial crimes," Norfleet said.

Robbing mail carriers has been on the rise in recent years, but break-ins to post office buildings are rarer, Norfleet said.

Image 1 of 3

▼

The North Oakland Post Office was burgled of mail and keys on Feb. 18.

He said these thieves seem to have been circumventing the out-on-the-street robberies and gone straight for the keys to open mailboxes - and thus personal information – directly.

Postal carrier robberies climbed to 643 in 2023, an increase of nearly 30%, and the number of robberies resulting in injuries doubled to 61, according to figures provided by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.

All told, robberies grew sixfold over the past decade and the number of postal carriers held at gunpoint increased even more, according to an analysis of the postal statistics.