Since our inception in August 1775, the United States Postal Inspection Service® (USPIS) has protected the American public. Postal inspectors defend the sanctity of the mail system and are uniquely positioned to uphold the safety and security of every delivery address and every community in the nation. This great responsibility brings with it an extremely broad jurisdiction, with postal inspectors policing crimes from mail fraud, drug trafficking and child exploitation to cybercrime, money laundering and identity theft. Our work reaches across the globe, and we work tirelessly to help ensure that your mail is always safe and secure.
I’m proud of everything we do at USPIS, and it is an honor and privilege to lead one of America’s oldest law enforcement agencies. To fully comprehend how hard we work, I urge you to visit our website, www.uspis.gov, but here I’d like to highlight for you a few of the critical missions the great women and men of the Postal Inspection Service undertake to preserve the safety, security and integrity of the nation’s mail system from criminal misuse.
Working with the United States Postal Service, we launched Project Safe Delivery in May 2023 to counter the troubling increase in attacks on postal employees and mail, typically by criminals seeking to gain from the billion-dollar check fraud industry. To date, our efforts have resulted in the arrest of more than 2,000 suspected mail thieves and almost 400 suspected robbers. More than 2,700 cases have been initiated for mail theft and robberies, resulting in around 1,900 convictions, with some sentences reaching more than three decades. We have achieved this through our Combating Mail Theft and Letter Carrier Robberies Strategy, which optimized our resources and leveraged our already strong relationships with federal and state law enforcement agencies.
Postal inspectors are also on the frontline protecting the integrity of our country’s Election Mail. In the run-up to the 2024 general election, USPIS was pivotal to the Postal Service’s efforts to educate and inform the American public on how to handle and return Election Mail. And, as the federal law enforcement organization assigned to protect the mail, including ballots mailed to and from voters domestically and abroad, we were there — as we are every election season — enforcing rigorous security protocols. These efforts included continuously monitoring and promptly responding to any potential threats or incidents, and supporting election officials who suspected fraud or were the victim of threats involving the mail.
The Inspection Service plays a central role in the country’s strategy to eliminate the mailing of opioids and other illicit drugs, and we have developed innovative investigative techniques and cutting-edge analytics that significantly increase our ability to remove dangerous and illicit drugs from the mail and identify those responsible. This mission is a top priority of USPIS, and we are producing real results not only by interdicting and removing illicit narcotics from the mail, but also by investigating and arresting individuals and disrupting drug trafficking organizations across the United States and overseas.
Consumer awareness is also important to us, and postal inspectors are dedicated to informing Americans on how to protect themselves from a variety of scams, including phishing, smishing and mail fraud. Behind the scenes, we are using the latest technologies and partnering with agencies around the world to combat these pernicious crimes with significant effect, but our impact is magnified when customers take simple precautions to stop these criminals.
That’s why we are constantly issuing public service announcements, hosting major campaigns like our recent Don’t Get Snowed by Holiday Scams effort, participating in events like the Federal Trade Commission’s National Consumer Protection Week and partnering with organizations like the American Bankers Association to keep consumers updated on the latest tactics to avoid becoming a victim of a scam. Our dedicated online mail fraud resource also hosts a wealth of information.
And as a reminder, the Postal Service does not send unsolicited communications about your mail and packages, and if you do ask for tracking information, the service is free and will not include a link. So, if you did not initiate a tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS and it contains a link, please don’t click!
This quick peek behind the curtains represents only a fraction of the many missions conducted by the Postal Inspection Service. In partnership with USPS, we remain vigilant and steadfast in our commitment to protecting the world’s largest postal organization and keep Delivering for America® each and every day.
If you are a victim of or have witnessed a mail-related crime or see someone acting suspiciously near a postal employee or mailbox, alert postal inspectors at www.uspis.gov/report or call 1-877-876-2455.
Gary Barksdale
Chief Postal Inspector
