BUFFALO, N.Y. — The oldest federal law enforcement agency is celebrating its 250th birthday this year.

Have you ever heard of the United States Postal Inspection Service? You might have. But did you know that it works with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives?

What You Need To Know

  • This year, the Postal Inspection Service turns 250, making it the oldest federal law enforcement agency

  • The men and women part of it are sworn officers who work with the FBI, DEA, and other agencies 

  • Postal inspectors have the widest purview of any federal law enforcement agency

In 2023, the United States Postal Service’s shipping and package volume was 7.1 billion. Among those items are potentially dangerous materials. Jerry Styers loves getting those calls.

“I like to kind of consider us the 'Batmen' of federal law enforcement,” Styers said. “The FBI is sort of like Superman because they're out there out front. We're kind of in the darkness, but we'll come snatch you up when we need to, right?”

Styers has been with the United States Postal Service for 19 years.

“We enforce over 200 federal statutes that have to do with the mail,” Styers said. “We have the widest purview of any federal law enforcement agency because we work anything that touches the mail.”

If you think about it, just about everything gets put into the mail.

“So we do everything from mail fraud to child exploitation, unfortunately, to robberies to security postal facilities,” Styers said. “And one of the big things right now we do is revenue investigations as well, because we have an influx of counterfeit stamps.”

Styers says don’t be fooled by stamps on sale. That’s not a thing unless it’s at a big box store.

“Like a Costco and a Sam's Club, and they do that as a benefit to their members, and they lose money on every stamp that they sell at a discount,” he continued.

Styers is a dangerous mail investigator — the ones that respond to mail bombs or suspected anthrax or ricin. Odd calls, too.

“I responded to a dangerous mail call [in Seattle], where there was a fluorescent purple substance leaking from a parcel,” Styers recalled. “I showed up at our plant. I sort of thought I was going to somehow get radioactive poisoning, but it ended up that it was prickly pear jelly.”

In Rochester, a man mailed a creaming kit to refurbish a motorcycle’s gas tank that ended up breaking open.

“It ate holes through our express mail bags,” Styers said.

Here’s the lesson in this story. When you’re asked if your package has anything that’s liquid, fragile, hazardous or perishable, be honest. Styers says that man’s dishonesty afforded him the clean-up bill.

There's never a dull moment, especially when drafting spreadsheets, warrants and criminal complaints are involved.

“I'm here to tell you, if you're going to launder proceeds at a post office, I'm going to come find you,” Styers said.

Styers or one of the other 1,200 postal inspectors around the U.S.

Another fun fact about postal inspectors: In 1793, a man by the name of Noah Webster was recruited by the postmaster general to investigate a string of mail thefts between New York City and Hartford, Conn. Webester later became the author of Webster’s Dictionary. 

There's a growing need for postal inspectors. If you're interested, you can get more information here.