A surveillance camera set up by the Kansas City Neighborhoods and Housing Services department catches a lot of illegal dumpers. Usually, they are tossing tires, trash bags, beer and water bottles. But at least twice this month, the camera captured what appears to be a U.S. Postal Service employee dumping mail.
“It’s a little shocking to see a mailman dumping what he’s supposed to be delivering to folks' house,” says Alan Ashurst, an illegal dumping investigator for the city. "As a person and somebody who expects their mail to get to their house, it’s a pretty big deal to me personally.”
Ashurst says the illegal dump site near 45th and Garfield is among the top three illegal dump sites in Kansas City. The other two are near 22nd Terrace and Vine and 34th and Hardesty. A new one has sprung up off Tiffany Springs Parkway north of the river, Ashurst says.
It appears most of the dumped mail is of the junk variety but there were a few letters mixed in. The post office says the matter has been turned over to the Office of Inspector General.
"These actions - if true - are not consistent with and don't represent the values of the Postal Service organization and will not be tolerated," USPS spokesman John Friess said in a statement. "Since this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further but will take all appropriate actions based on the results of the investigation to ensure that the integrity and values of the USPS organization are upheld."
Sam Zeff is KCUR's Metro Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff.
