[Alex Murphy]

Within an hour of FOX31 Denver discovering a hidden camera, which was positioned to capture and record the license plates and facial features of customers leaving a Golden Post Office, the device was ripped from the ground and disappeared. FOX31 Denver investigative reporter Chris Halsne confirmed the hidden camera and recorder is owned and operated by the United State Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service.

The recording device appeared to be tripped by any vehicle leaving the property on Johnson Road, but the lens was not positioned to capture images of the front door, employee entrance, or loading dock areas of the post office....

....Managers inside the post office tell FOX31 Denver they were unaware customers were being photographed outside and that the surveillance was not part of the building’s security monitoring. A spokesperson for Postal Inspection Service declined to address the specific reason for the domestic surveillance, but admitted the agency had a “number of cameras at their disposal.”

Pamela Durkee, a Federal Law Enforcement Agent and U.S. Postal Inspector, sent an email to FOX31 Denver explaining, “(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.” FOX31 Denver reviewed criminal search warrants on file in city, county, and federal court but none appeared to be related to the Golden post office camera set-up. The Postal Inspection Service would not confirm or deny that the camera was collecting data for a specific case or cases.

Nothing like scaring away your customer base. I've been hearing ads on the radio that business is up for FedEx and they're hiring drivers as a result.

[Buckeye McFrog]

looking for another Unibomber?

[RandallFlagg]

Well, at least there aren’t any evil guns allowed there.

(/s)

[Harpotoo]

Easy! They are looking to see who is mailing Pot out of state.

[bunkerhill7]

They`re checkin for illegal fish deliveries

[Minutemen]

It’s for our own good.

[Oatka]

It would be a REAL shame if someone spray-painted the lens. Could they be cited for "vandalism" if no search warrant existed?

What would appeal to me is someone putting a dummy home security camera with a dummy red light facing that lens.

I'll have to friendly hassle my local postmaster, lord of a two-man, closed for lunch, no mail on Saturday office if he has one installed somewhere. :-)