US Postal Inspection Service

The federal law enforcement agency of the postal service in the United States is the US Postal Inspection Service. They are also the security arm of the Post Office and responsible for the enforcement of over 200 statutes of the federal government involving the postal service and the US mail.

This branch of the federal government was enacted by virtue of the Postal Service Act in 1792. The agency was incorporated to become an independent agency that is run and managed by the board of governors pursuant to the Postal Reorganization Act. The head of the agency is the Chief Postal Inspector.

US Postal Inspector – Authority 

The US Postal Inspector Service’s main responsibility is to protect the postal employees and maintain the integrity in the US mails. They have postal inspectors that serve as the investigative agents of the department. Its powers and authorities include the following:

• Enforcement of the postal laws
• Investigate cyber fraud within the postal office
• Provide security to the personnel of the US postal office
• Conduct criminal investigations
• Serve warrants and subpoenas
• Apprehend criminals who committed postal related felonies
• Carry firearms
• Seize properties that are the fruit of crimes

US Postal Inspector – Responsibilities

As an investigative arm of the US Postal office they work closely with the other investigating federal agencies when needed and assists the US Attorneys in the prosecution of crimes related to the US mail. They often conduct joint investigations with the other federal, state and local agencies due to the overlapping of jurisdiction. The US Postal Inspector Service usually has within its jurisdiction to investigate crimes related to the following:

• Mail fraud
• Mail theft
• Identity theft
• Return to sender label
• Mailbox vandalism
• Mail export cases
• Financial crimes using mail
• Charity frauds
• Bogus addresses
• Foreign lottery fraud