Royal Mail Group Security: Keeping Your Mail Safe since 1683

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/201 ... ince-1683/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You probably think of the post office in terms of stamps and rush deliveries, rather than undercover police investigations and exciting arrests—but funnily enough, both conceptions are very much a part of the modern (and ancient) post office thanks to Royal Mail Group Security, the internal crime-fighting department that remains relatively unknown. Despite its anonymity, internal security has been alive and kicking in the post office since 1683. It began in the form of the Assistant Solicitor to the General Post Office, Gentleman Attorney Richard Swift, who was appointed the salary of £200 per annum to detect and carry out prosecutions against ‘persons robbing the mail and other fraudulent practices’.

By the end of the 18th century, the Solicitor had begun to delegate some of his crime-fighting duties to Enquirers, who were most likely solicitor’s clerks. The reports of the apprehension and sentencing of Post Office offenders appeared regularly in the newspaper during this time, and the sentences were often very extreme: capital punishment was a common sentence for stealing a single letter. These punishments were outlined by an act of parliament in 1765: ‘Death as a Felon’ was the sentence for theft of mail, secretion, embezzlement, or destruction of mail. For obstructing a mail coach, you got off lightly with a sentence of six months imprisonment. The last postman hanged for theft of the post was in 1836, and shortly after they abolished capital punishment for these offences with the Post Office Act of 1837, replacing it with transportation sentences of between seven years and life.

However, before the repeal of capital punishment for post office offences, the investigative duties within the post office changed hands: until 1816, it had been the responsibility of the Solicitor, but after this date, much of the work was transferred to the Secretary’s Office to the Missing Letter Branch, the name adopted by a team of investigators, who were supported by the Bow Street Runners, a group eventually replaced by police officers with the founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Little did they know that this expanded team of investigators would become invaluable with the introduction of the Penny Black in 1840, which caused crime levels to greatly increase—so much so that in 1848 they created the post of Post Office Inspector General and an office whose duties were specifically focused in investigation.

Throughout the late 19th and 20th century, this department underwent much reorganization and many name-changes, eventually resulting in today’s Royal Mail Group Security with a department comprised of around 280 investigators and security managers. For more detailed accounts of some of the post-1960 changes (and some thrilling chase-and-arrest stories) within post office security, keep an eye out for a full range of oral history interviews with acting and retired members of Group Security coming to the BPMA online catalogue soon!

For a more detailed history of Royal Mail Security, feel free to check out ‘Investigations, Prosecutions and Security in the Royal Mail: A Brief History’.http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2 ... 20Mail.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Does the recent spate of jailed thieving posties indicate that group sucurity is doing its job?
I note that many of these postman stole for up to 4 years and failed to deliver many thousands of items .
this is surly a failure in respect of protecting the customer.
i accept you will never be able to predict when a "good apple" will turn into a bad one
but that said why does it take years for them to come to light.
worst of all many of the recent cases were initiated by tip offs from the public so rm security cant even take the full credit for catching them.

[andy2007]

I suspect that the main reason for the delays, is that there's less than 300 of them, to check up on such a large organisation. Perhaps it's time to recruit some more of them.

[maisymoo04]

i applied about any positions about 6 years ago in the IB and was told all jobs will be on the group web site,my god the only jobs on there our for PT AND CASUEL companys a f@@@ joke