Canada Post targets super-mailbox thieves with bait mail

Canada Post says it is expanding the use of so-called bait mail in hopes of stopping mail theft in problem areas, such as Surrey, B.C.

The Crown corporation says problems with community mailboxes, also known as super mailboxes, are rare across the country,but acknowledges incidents of theft and vandalism are troubling in parts of B.C.'s Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley.

• Super mailbox thieves now using keys, says Surrey victim
• B.C. community mailboxes targeted thousands of times

Canada Post spokeswoman Anik Losiersaidit's not clear why community mailbox theft issuch a problem in B.C., but the Crown corporation is taking steps to reduce it, including replacing problem boxes with higher-security boxesand planting tracking devices in fake mail.

"The bait mail is intended to catch those who are doing criminal activities," Losier said. "We know that when they bring that mail with them, it enables our postal inspectors as well as police to catch them."

Canada Post has had success with bait-mailstingsin the pastand plan to keep themgoing, planting more tracking lettersto help apprehendthieves.

"We've been working very successfully with local police," Losiertold CBC News. "There's been a number of arrests but that doesn't mean the problem is solved, so we'll continue to have bait mail."

Losier couldn't say how many bait-mail operations have been run, or when they began, but a2010 report from Surrey RCMP noted that the force instituted a successful bait mail sting with Canada Post in which 30 short-term surveillance projects of problem hot spots netted39 arrests.

Losier said that overall, incidents of theft or vandalism across the country represent a fraction of a percentage point of all the mail that moves, but half of those incidents are reported in the Lower Mainland area.

The issue of mailboxsecurity and mail theftis a growingconcernfor millions of Canadian living in urban areas,who will soon have their home delivery replaced with super mailboxes.

The union representing postal workers says the theft problems will persist unless the company reconsidersits plan to replace home delivery with super mailboxes in all urban areas.