The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is often heralded as the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the country, tasked with protecting the Postal Service, its employees, and its customers. While its mission may sound noble, a closer examination reveals that the Inspection Service has a long and troubled history of waste and abuse, which has led to its inevitable failure.
To carry out its mission, the Inspection Service employs uniformed Postal Police Officers and plainclothes Postal Inspectors. Unfortunately, the current structure of the Inspection Service — where Postal Inspectors outnumber lower-paid Postal Police Officers by a 3 to 1 margin — is a relic of a bygone era.
Nearly all of the investigative functions conducted by Postal Inspectors have been rendered redundant by other federal agencies and the rise of digital technology. Consequently, the Postal Service is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars by allowing the Inspection Service to misallocate resources to investigate crime rather than prevent it.