San Antonio task force proposes public-awareness campaign, lighting and UDC change to address rising cluster-mailbox thefts

San Antonio's Public Safety Committee received an update on an interagency task force's work to address a documented increase in cluster-mailbox thefts across the city, including recommendations for a bilingual public-awareness campaign, guidance for homeowners associations on reporting and prevention, and changes to development code for future projects.

The briefing, led by Deputy Chief Michelle Ramos of the San Antonio Police Department and Alana Reid, the city's director of communications and engagement, summarized state and federal law, three years of local incident data, solvability challenges, and the task force's recommended next steps. "We collected data for the last three years," Ramos said, noting that thefts where fewer than 10 addresses were affected rose to 1,323 year-to-date in 2025 from 1,570 in 2023. She also said thefts from 30 or more addresses rose from about 70 in 2023 to 126 year-to-date in 2025. Ramos added that arrests remain limited; for fewer-than-10-address offenses SAPD reported seven arrests year-to-date in 2025, and for 30-or-more-address incidents arrests rose from two in 2023 to six in 2025 year-to-date.

The nut graf: City staff and community partners told the committee the thefts are widespread, concentrate in apartment-rich areas such as the Medical Center corridor, are difficult to investigate…