U.S. Postal Service

This fact sheet provides information on the Postal Inspection Service's investigation of possible employee drug-related crimes. GAO discusses the race, the gender, the age, and the occupation of the Postal Service employees investigated. GAO also discusses whether confidential informants were involved and what administrative and court actions were taken as a result of the investigations.

GAO found that: (1) 1,760 Postal Service employees were investigated for suspected drug-related crimes from September 1988 through April 1994; (2) the percentage of black males investigated was more than double the percentage of black males in the postal workforce; (3) the percentages of black females and white females investigated were only one-half as large as the total percentages of black females and white females in the workforce; (4) the percentage of white males investigated was about three-fourths of the total percentage of white male employees; (5) employees between the ages of 30 and 39 made up about one-half of those who were investigated and about one-third of the postal workforce; (6) employees over 40 made up about one-fifth of those investigated; (7) postal clerks made up 42 percent of the workforce and 30 percent of the investigations, while city carriers made up about one-fourth of both the workforce and the investigations; (8) mail handlers made up 11 percent of the workforce and 29 percent of the investigations; (9) two-thirds of the investigations involved employees assigned to first-class post offices; (10) confidential informants were involved in about three-fourths of all investigations; (11) 60 percent of those investigated were suspended, 12 percent were placed on administrative leave, and almost 75 percent were terminated; and (12) about 90 percent of the investigations resulted in arrests, and about 93 percent of those arrested were convicted.