U.S. Postal Inspection Service

History

The origins of the Postal Inspection Service can be traced to colonial times. Some who question the claim of the U.S. marshals to be the first federal law enforcement agency argue that when Benjamin Franklin was appointed postmaster at Philadelphia in 1737, part of his duties involved regulating the several post offices and bringing the postmasters to account. By 1753, Franklin had been promoted by the British monarch to deputy postmaster general of the American colonies. That year, his additional duties took him on inspection tours of the colonies to visit every post office except Charleston, South Carolina. Because such periodic inspections of post offices to ensure compliance with rules and regulations and to ferret out theft or corruption are now associated with police and inspectors' general roles, some have made the claim that Franklin himself was the first postal inspector and that his appointment of a surveyor in 1772 was merely recognition of the fact that he could no longer single-handedly regulate and audit postal functions. Hugh Finley, the first surveyor, had previously worked for the Canadian postal system. He investigated thefts of mail or postal funds and audited the accounts of postmasters to ensure that revenues were properly collected and reported.

When the colonial postal system became the U.S. Postal Service on July 26, 1775, Benjamin Franklin was elected postmaster general and William Goddard, a former colonial postmaster, was named the first surveyor. By 1801, when the title was changed to special agent, the number of laws pertaining to use of the mail had increased and so had the responsibilities of the agents. The Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations, formed in 1830, defined the dual investigative and inspectional roles of the agents. Investigation of internal theft in those early years may have been even more difficult than today, for internal did not mean only individuals employed directly by the post office, but applied to the many contractors who carried the mails across a rapidly expanding nation.

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