A 16-year-old boy was placed in cuffs on April 15 for allegedly stealing mail by feeding a glue-covered rope into a mailbox at 2549 Jerome Ave., a scheme commonly known by the NYPD as mailbox fishing.

Mailbox fishing continues to roil the NYPD, with at least several cases reported twice a week. In every case, thieves grab mail filled with personal checks, money orders or gift cards, hurting the pocketbooks of victims trying to pay rent or send a monetary gift via mail.

The Norwood News obtained data from the NYPD showing where mailbox fishing incidents have occurred within the 52nd Precinct, covering Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham, and University from the beginning of 2016 until now. Police recommend avoiding mailboxes that have been regular targets, as shown below:

View Mailbox Fishing in a full screen map

Many of the reported thefts have happened at night or in areas where foot traffic is scarce. Several hotspots include  West Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue, east Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse, and 1-7 East Fordham Rd. where four or more mailbox fishing incidents have occurred. In four instances, fishers have also targeted the mailbox in front of the Mosholu Post Office at 3464 Jerome Ave., within the commercial corridor of the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District.

Thoughts on Mail Thefts 

Residents and employees relied on the post office as the safest way to drop off mail.

“I wouldn’t use the boxes from outside, except in my building and the post office,” Yvonne Foulks, a resident at nearby Tracey Towers, said. “Come here, you’re better off.”

Leo Trevino, an employee of Montefiore Health System, also drops off mail at the post office exclusively, never bothering to slip in mail inside an outdoor box. “I’ve always have thought, ‘Hey, anyone can come at night do anything and take whatever is in there,” Trevino, who hadn’t heard about the scheme until the News told him, said.

“I feel a lot safer dropping my mail off at the post office,” Susan Diaz, another frequent visitor of the post office, said.

The United States Postal Service has so far replaced some of the common swing door mailboxes with a slit cover mailbox, making it tougher for thieves to easily fish out mail. The Norwood News inquired on the whereabouts of the new slit-cover collection boxes can be found within Norwood’s 10467 zip code, but were denied.

Xavier Hernandez, a spokesperson for USPS, said postal officials “regularly monitor all collection boxes to ensure the safety of the mail for the public.” He added, “When evidence suggests that a collection box may be vulnerable to crime, that box may be removed or modified to protect our customers.”

Meantime, police recommend residents take their mail straight to the post office or hand it to mail carrier.

“If we stop leaving our mail inside these post boxes, they’re gonna fish and come up with nothing,” Detective June Cortez, with the 52nd Precinct’s Community Affairs Unit, recently told an audience at the Community Board 7 general board.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.