Postal Inspectors Reported to Be Collecting License Plate Info, Agents Deny Broad Surveillance

The Truth About Cars has followed the use of license plate recognition and storage technology by local law enforcement agencies, a practice that has raised alarms from civil liberties activists because of constitutional concerns over broad surveillance and the ability to reconstruct one’s movements from license plate data. Now it appears that United States Postal Inspection Service, the USPS’ own law enforcement agency has also, at least at one post office in Colorado, been collecting similar data from drivers. Though the device had apparently been operating for at least a few months, within an hour of Chris Halsne, of Denver’s KDVR television station, inquiring from the postal inspectors about a Golden, Colorado post office that had a camera positioned to record drivers’ faces and license plates, triggered as they left the post office property, the in-ground camera was removed.

A postal customer first noticed the camera, hidden in a utility box, back in November, and it appears to have been active through the busy Christmas mailing season and into January. Management at the post office where the camera was discovered told KDVR that they were not aware of the camera and that it wasn’t part of the building’s normal security system.

When asked by KDVR, the Postal Inspection Service would not discuss their reasons for surveilling Denver postal customers, but acknowledged their use of cameras. Without saying so specifically, a statement from U.S. Postal Inspector Pamela Durkee implied that the camera discovered at the Denver post office was part of some kind of ongoing investigation, not constitutionally dubious random spying on Americans. “(We) do not engage in routine or random surveillance. Cameras are deployed for law enforcement or security purposes, which may include the security of our facilities, the safety of our customers and employees, or for criminal investigations. Employees of the Postal Inspection Service are sworn to uphold the United States Constitution, including protecting the privacy of the American public.”

The Postal Inspection Service is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the United States and it has a pretty good record of protecting both those who carry our mail and our privacy. To protect postal employees and the stamps, money, postal money orders and valuables they handle, most post offices in the United States have at least as many security cameras installed as the average bank does. Those cameras, though, are as visible as their purpose is.

Not long ago, I was mailing a package and while standing in line noticed a sign saying “Refrain From Cellphone Use While Being Serviced”. Struck by the double-entendre, I stepped forward to take a photo of the sign with my phone. A woman standing behind me started to freak out about her privacy and at first I didn’t know what she was talking about and then realized she thought I was taking a “selfie”, with her in the background.

A little annoyed, I told her that I wasn’t taking her picture but that I happen to write and take photographs professionally and that nobody has any expectation of privacy in a public place. Then I counted off the number of security cameras recording us at that very moment, at least six that I could see, which didn’t seem to bother her at all. On the way out of the building, I counted another five cameras. At least at that particular post office location, your every movement is recorded from even before you open the door.

As I said, you have no expectation of privacy in public places. Still, we live in a country that long ago decided that the government has no business doing broad surveillance of the public. Criminal investigations, not to mention those involving national security, are undoubtedly sensitive, but at a time when Americans already have concerns about broad surveillance of electronic communications by the National Security Agency, it would probably behoove the postal inspectors to be a little more forthcoming with the purpose of their camera in Denver. Ripping out a camera when it becomes a news story and a boilerplate statement intoning on the moral integrity of postal inspectors doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in that integrity.