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Auditing Post Offices
Auditing United States Post Offices has become a trend in the field. This is in part because the rules and regulations governing conduct on Postal Property are mainly laid out in Federal Law. These rules and regulations are required by Federal Law to be displayed in each post office in the form of what is commonly known as Poster 7.
The section pertaining to photography is located in the third column just over halfway down the page. This section states:
Photographs for News, Advertising, or Commercial Purposes
Photographs for news purposes may be taken in entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, or auditoriums when used for public meetings except where prohibited by official signs or Security Force personnel or other authorized personnel or a federal court order or rule. Other photographs may be taken only with the permission of the local Postmaster or installation head.
While seeming forthright, this paragraph is not well-known among Post Office personnel and is sometimes seemingly misconstrued by those who are aware of it. Some read that the section stating "except where prohibited..." applies to all locations, whereas others believe it only applies to "auditoriums when used for public meetings".
In claiming the latter of these two arguments, proponents of the stance that the phrase can only apply to auditoriums, citing Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia (1990) where the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to indicate that members of the press have equal access as the general public. In other words, if the general public is allowed access, members of the press should also be allowed access. While the case mentioned was regarding access to a public court trial, an argument can be made that this extends to all public facilities.
Those in opposition to Auditors' appearance in or at a Post Office will also challenge the Auditors' qualifications as journalists or members of the press. Often, they will request to see a "Press Pass" or "Press Credentials." While there are some credentials issued by certain organizations or for access to certain events for security purposes, no such "credentials" are government-issued for practicing journalism in general public situations or locations. Instead, as characterized by scholars Patrick J. Charles and Kevin O'Neill, "[T]he role of the press is to keep the public informed." This can generally be extrapolated to state that anyone who gathers information for dissemination to the public is a journalist and can be considered, even on their own, a member of the press.
Considered by Auditors to be the most ridiculous of arguments by opponents is the differentiation between photographing and taking video. Taking video is, in essence, photographing at a very high rate of speed. A video in today's world is simply a conglomeration of photographs taken at a rate of 60 per second, also known as FPS or Frames Per Second. With the right software or equipment, any one of these frames can be singled out and made into its own separate photograph.
Combining all of these points, anyone who situates themselves at or in a Post Office for the purpose of gathering information for dissemination to the public, even if that is taking video of employees' reactions to someone doing this, would be considered photographing for news purposes. So long as they do so from publicly-accessible and unrestricted locations they would be completely legal to do so. As a matter of fact, as argued by the Auditors, it is their right as confirmed by the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.
Finally, when disagreeing with the Auditors' presence, members of the public and postal employees generally call local law enforcement - either police, sheriff, or state police - in an attempt to have the Auditors removed. In almost all cases, local law enforcement has no jurisdiction at the Post Office. Even Federal Protective Service (FPS) does not have jurisdiction according to the final paragraph of Poster 7, in the lower right-hand corner, and 18 USC 3061 (c)(2).
Enforcement
Security Force personnel will exercise the powers under 18 U.S.C. 3061(c)(2) and are responsible for enforcing the regulations in this notice in a manner that will protect U.S. Postal Service property. Postmasters or installation heads may, with the approval of the Chief Postal Inspector or designee, enter into agreements with State and local enforcement agencies to ensure enforcement of the regulations in a manner that will protect U.S. Postal Service property. Postal Inspectors, Office of the Inspector General Special Agents, and anyone designated by the Chief Postal Inspector may also enforce these regulations.
As indicated by the wording of this paragraph, "Security Force personnel" is defined as the U.S. Postal Police and members of the Office of the Postal Inspector. Through this paragraph, and absent an agreement as described, local and state law enforcement agencies are explicitly excluded from performing law enforcement actions, including trespassing statutes.
While a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was denied, it was learned that there are five pages worth of local and state agencies with which the USPS has law enforcement agreements. Absent that listing, Southside Matt has begun an investigation by contacting individual agencies and has yet to locate a single agency with such an agreement with USPS. If you have information to add to our database, whether an agency does or does not have such an agreement, please feel free to share that with us via email at tips@southsidematt.com.
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