Mail connects families and friends, businesses and customers, government and citizens. It carries information, goods and valuables into our homes and offices. For that reason, scam artists and criminals have long been tempted to use the mail for illegal means. Protecting the mail and the postal system is the job of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Sometimes called the silent service, it is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the country.
Today about 2,000 postal inspectors are at work across the United States investigating crimes against the mail.
