The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the United States Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enforcing the laws that defend the United States' mail system from illegal or dangerous use. Its jurisdiction covers any crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the United States Mail, the postal system, or postal employees. With roots going back to the late 18th century, the USPIS is the country's oldest continuously operating federal law enforcement agency.
There are approximately 200 federal crimes that can be committed which involve the mail. Therefore, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's activities are broad and ever-changing. In 2024, postal inspectors made 4,440 arrests leading to more than 4,000 convictions, mostly involving mail theft, mail fraud, and prohibited mailings. The growth in illegal narcotics has resulted in more than 20,000 arrests and the seizure of over $30 million in drug proceeds since 2010. In 2024, postal inspectors made 2,034 arrests involving drug trafficking, seized more than 36,000 kilograms of illegal drugs from the mail, and confiscated more than $13.8 million in illicit proceeds. In some cases, these seizures were performed with the assistance of a detection dog.
As of 2024, there were over 1,200 postal inspectors, who are authorized to carry weapons, make arrests, execute federal search warrants, and serve subpoenas.
History The Postal Inspection Service has the oldest origins of any federal law enforcement agency in the United States pre-dating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Its roots can be traced back to 1775 when colonial postmaster general Benjamin Franklin first appointed a "surveyor" to regulate and audit the mail.
When Franklin was appointed Postmaster General under the Second Continental Congress, the audit system he created continued. One of Franklin's first acts as Postmaster General was to appoint William Goddard as the first postal surveyor of the newly founded American postal system, in charge of inspecting the integrity and security of postal routes, regulating post offices, and auditing their accounts. A letter from Franklin to Goddard, dated August 7, 1775, asked Goddard to carry out these duties.
In 1801, the title of "Surveyor" was changed to "Special Agent", and the Postal Inspection Service was the first federal law enforcement agency to use the title Special Agent for its officers. In 1830, the special agents were organized into the Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations. In 1873, one of their primary duties was the enforcement of obscenity prohibitions under the Comstock Act, named after Postal Inspector Anthony Comstock.Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Rereading Sex: Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Random House, 2002. Congress changed this title to "Post Office Inspector" in 1880 to differentiate the federal postal agents from the multitude of other "special agents" employed by railway and stagecoach companies.
Finally, in 1954, the title changed again to "Postal Inspector" to reflect their relationship to all aspects of the postal system and the U.S. mail, instead of only post offices.
Jurisdiction and activities As fact-finding and investigative agents, postal inspectors are sworn federal law enforcement officers who carry firearms, make arrests, and serve federal search warrants and subpoenas. Inspectors work closely with U.S. attorneys, other law enforcement agencies, and local prosecutors to investigate postal cases and prepare them for court. For example, on cases involving international mail, postal inspectors work closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); while on domestic mail cases, Inspectors work closely with state and local law enforcement agencies.
The USPIS has responsibility to safeguard over 640,000 Postal Service employees, approximately 32,000 postal facilities and billions of pieces of mail transported globally each year by air, land, rail, and sea.
Prior to 1996, USPIS was the only investigative agency of the Postal Service, but that changed with the creation of the USPS Office of Inspector General in 1996. The USPS OIG conducts independent audits and investigations of USPS programs and operations to determine whether they are efficient and cost-effective. Before 1996, this auditing function was carried out by Postal Inspectors. These investigations help detect fraud, waste, and misconduct within USPS, and they have a deterrent effect on postal crimes.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the USPIS has also investigated several cases where ricin, anthrax, and other toxic substances were sent through the mail. Although the USPIS has a wide jurisdiction, USPIS investigations can be categorized into seven types of investigative teams and functions:
Fraud: These types of investigation involve crimes that use the mails to facilitate fraud against consumers, business, and government. Federal statutes that surround these types of investigations include mail fraud and other criminal statutes when they are tied to the mails, such as bank fraud, identity theft, credit card fraud, wire fraud, and Internet/computer fraud. Mail fraud is a statute that is used in prosecuting many white collar crimes, including Ponzi schemes, 419 frauds, and other white collar crimes where the mail was used to facilitate the fraud. This extends to public corruption (under the "Honest Services" provision of the federal fraud statutes). In the 1960s and 70s, inspectors under regional chief postal inspectors, such as Martin McGee, known as "Mr. Mail Fraud," exposed and prosecuted numerous swindles involving land sales, phony advertising practices, insurance ripoffs, and fraudulent charitable organizations using mail fraud charges. McGee is credited with assisting in the conviction of former Illinois governor Otto Kerner on mail fraud charges. External Crime and Crime Teams: The External Crimes Function of USPIS is a function that investigates any theft of US mail by non employees, assaults of postal employees, and theft and robberies of postal property. This function also investigates robberies of postal employees and postal facilities, burglaries of postal facilities, and assaults and murders of postal employees. This investigative function ensures that trust in the U.S. mail system is maintained. Prohibited Mailing Investigations: Prohibited mailing investigations focus on the prohibited mailing of contraband including: narcotics, precursors, and proceeds; child pornography and other sexually prohibited materials; and hazardous materials to include: mail bombs; and nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The laundering of narcotics and other criminal proceeds through the use of postal money orders is sometimes categorized under this investigative function. Aviation and Homeland Security: These investigations include the securing and protecting of transportation of U.S. mail and any risk that might compromise the security of the homeland because of these mails. Security audits are conducted by these teams to ensure that postal service facilities are secure from not only theft and robberies but also manmade and natural disasters. Revenue Investigations: These investigations identify fraudulent practices conducted by business and consumers that mail items without proper postage or with counterfeit postage and indicia. Also included are any other crimes that defraud the USPS of revenue. International Investigations and Global Security: This investigative function ensures that international mail is secured and that international business decisions and campaigns remain safe and secure. USPIS maintains investigators in the U.S. and in posts around the world for protection, liaison, and intelligence. Joint Task Force Investigations: USPIS participates in joint task force investigations where laws applicable to the mail service are involved. These cases are often wide-ranging and involve every law enforcement agency of the federal government. For example, USPIS participated in the largest count indictment and conviction in NASA history, the Omniplan case, that put seven companies out of business and ended with the conviction of Omniplan owner, Ralph Montijo, on 179 federal crimes.
The Postal Inspection Service's Technical Services Unit (TSU) provides investigative support through the use of new technology and the operations of two national communication centers known as the National Law Enforcement Control Centers (NLECC). In 2003, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement renamed their national communication center, previously known as "Sector" to the "National Law Enforcement Communications Center" (also known as NLECC). USPIS NLECC and ICE NLECC are two independent federal law enforcement radio communications centers that coincidentally share the same acronym and an almost identical name.
Ted Kaczynski, 1978-1996
From 1978 to 1996, Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, mailed or placed 16 explosive devices, killing three and injuring 26 others. The nine mailed bombs were sent to university professors and airline and advertising executives. Kaczynski's first two bombs were investigated by Postal Inspectors, with the FBI getting involved after he targeted an American Airlines flight in 1979. Chemist Jim Upton from the Inspection Service Crime Lab was the first person to tie the devices to a single bomb maker. Postal Inspectors, FBI and ATF agents created the UNABOM Task Force, a combination of the words "university" and "airline bomber". The first federal agent to interview Kaczynski was Postal Inspector Paul Wilhelmus.
National Forensic Laboratory, 1940-present The U.S. Postal Inspection Service first established a crime lab in 1940. Today, the National Forensic Laboratory is located in Dulles, Virginia in a two-story, 44,000-square-foot facility. The lab is staffed by forensic scientists and technical experts and consists of four units: the Questioned Documents Unit, the Fingerprint Unit, the Physical Sciences Unit, and the Digital Evidence Unit. The laboratory is overseen by a laboratory director, and each of the four units is overseen by an assistant laboratory director. There are also four satellite offices, located in New York, Chicago, Memphis, and San Francisco.
Police force Postal police officers are the uniformed division of the Postal Inspection Service. They are stationed at major postal facilities throughout the United States. In connection with property owned, occupied, or controlled by the Postal Service, postal police officers enforce Postal Service regulations and applicable federal laws for the protection of persons and property, consistent with statutory and regulatory authority, and ensures safety and security of personnel, customers, property, mail, and mail-in-transit.https://www.uspis.gov/careers/postal-police-officers
USPIS Academy The Postal Inspection Service maintains an in-residence law enforcement academy located at the W.F. Bolger Center for Leadership Development based in Potomac, Maryland. It is a federally accredited law enforcement academy by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA), and is administered by the Career Development Unit (CDU) of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
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