The Postal Service last month abruptly ordered its police officers to stop investigating mail theft that occurs away from post office property, the Postal Police Officers Association alleged Monday, suing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to block a change they say could erode the safety of mail carriers and delivery.

Per the union, USPS implemented the change on Aug. 25, a day after DeJoy testified to Congress amid mounting concerns that policy changes he implemented were delaying mail service and could jeopardize record numbers of mail-in ballots expected in the presidential election.

The union argues that this unilateral change by USPS managers violates the collective bargaining agreement with the Postal Police Officers Association. The union is asking a judge to block the policy change pending arbitration and to declare that USPS leaders acted outside of their statutory authority.

(CNN)Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized after sustaining multiple injuries, is now handcuffed to his bed, his family said.
Blake's uncle told CNN on Thursday that Blake's father visited the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin hospital where his son is recovering from at least one surgery. He was "heartbroken" to see that his son was handcuffed.
"This is an insult to injury," Justin Blake, the uncle of the victim, said. "He is paralyzed and can't walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?"

To end testilying, Levine said, “I would entirely change incentive structures.” Officers would be rewarded for reporting on their colleagues’ lies and scrutinized when their stories do not line up. They would no longer be able to coordinate their stories before testifying, a common procedure that lets them iron out potential inconsistencies. Nor could they watch bodycam footage before providing their version of events, another perk that’s not provided to civilians. Prosecutors would be rewarded for rooting out unconstitutional behavior. Officers who lie, and prosecutors who tolerate them, would be terminated immediately. In short, the system would encourage police officers and prosecutors to focus less on winning cases and more on following the rules, even when a constitutional violation stands in the way of a conviction.

But the stress and trauma reached a tipping point with the siege of the Third Police Precinct, he said. Fifty of the officers currently seeking disability, about one-third of the total, were present at the Third Precinct on Thursday, May 28.

“They did not feel they were going to come home,” said Meuser. Some officers were texting their families’ goodbye and others were saving a bullet in case they needed to take their own life, rather than being beaten to death, he said. 

Meuser said since the killing of George Floyd, officers have felt abandoned by city and state politicians as well as the community at large. “It’s an emotional beatdown on a daily basis for these guys,” he said.