Chapter 04 What Agency Am I?

Founded by Benjamin Franklin, I am a federal law enforcement agency that protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, and its customers from criminal attack and protects the nation’s mail system from criminal misuse.

Since 1789, my law enforcement officers have served the nation through a variety of vital law enforcement activities. Ninety-five officers, appointed by the president or the U.S. attorney general, direct the activities of 94 district offices and personnel at more than 350 locations throughout the 50 states, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. My responsibilities include judicial security, fugitive investigations, and witness security. 

I manage public lands in national forests and grasslands. My mission includes protecting and managing natural resources on National Forest System lands. I also assist state and local governments, forest industries, and private landowners in protecting and managing nonfederal forest and associated range and watershed lands.

I am a Treasury Department police agency that is responsible for protecting over $100 billion in Treasury and other government assets stored in facilities in Philadelphia; San Francisco; Denver; West Point, New York; Fort Knox, Kentucky; and Washington, DC. My officers protect life and property; prevent, detect, and investigate criminal acts; collect and preserve evidence; make arrests; and enforce federal and local laws.