Sidelined Postal Police Officers are Less Effective at Fighting Crime?

Online debates often devolve into moral posturing or ad hominem attacks. But every so often, a single anonymous comment cuts through the noise and exposes the unspoken assumptions driving an institution’s choices.

That happened in response to my recent FEDweek op-ed on the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) nearly two-year-delayed FY2024 Annual Report and the ongoing collapse of postal crime enforcement. A commenter dismissed Postal Police Officers (PPOs) — sworn federal law-enforcement personnel — as little more than security guards, questioning their legitimacy.

It was intended it as a takedown. Instead, the comment captured — almost verbatim — the rationale that has shaped USPS policy for over five years.

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