Federal efforts are underway to put more Postal Police officers back on the street.

Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell was joined by the Postal Police in Paterson to announce the introduction of a new bill Pascrell says will protect postal workers across the country.

Paterson officials say that it is too often that thieves break into mail collection boxes in the city. The new legislation would call for Postal Police to be on duty and patrol areas where there is mail theft and where mail carriers are on the job. The legislation would also allow Postal Police officers to carry out the duty of local law enforcement.

Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association, says that heavily populated cities like Paterson would benefit from more Postal Police officers so that local police can focus on their jobs.

“Local police, first of all, their resources are low, and they have so many other things to worry about. They can’t devote their resources to mail theft, they just can’t. You know who could do that? Postal Police. That’s all we did, mail theft and the protection of employees,” Albergo says.

The United States Postal Service allowed Postal Police to patrol neighborhoods until 2020 when that practice stopped.

News 12 reached out to the Postal Service for comment but did not hear back.