The U.S. Postal Service has transferred some of the duties of its Inspection Service to its Office of Inspector General (OIG).
As of last Thursday the OIG became responsible for auditing and investigating the USPS, its officials and employees, including postal inspectors, for fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement within the postal service.
Postal inspectors, who remain part of the Inspection Service, were previously responsible for those areas. The inspectors will continue to act as the police force for the postal service, conducting criminial investigations in connection postal laws by both employees and the general public.
The switch in responsibilities was done “to remove outdated references to the Inspection Service’s duties that are now the responsibility of the Office of Inspector General,” the USPS said. The shift marks the first comprehensive revision of the Inspector General’s regulations since the office was created by Congress in 1996. It operates independently of postal management and reports only to the postal service’s Board of Governors.
The OIG was created “to strengthen audit and investigative activities in order to obtain greater efficiency and effectiveness in federal government operations,” the USPS said. The shift does not diminish the importance or effectiveness of postal inspectors but rather frees them of some responsibilities to concentrate on enforcing laws involving or relating to the postal service.
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