Home Gallery Launch of Royal Mail’s Investigation Department
Launch of Royal Mail’s Investigation Department
The Investigation Department, now part of Royal Mail Security, is the oldest recognised criminal investigations authority in the world and can trace its origins back at least as far as 1683. Initially the duty of the Solicitor to the General Post Office, eighteenth century records mention that Anthony Parkin, a private solicitor, acted regularly on behalf of the Postmaster General detecting offences committed by clerks, sorters and letter carriers, such as taking bank notes and bills of exchange out of letters and other fraudulent practices.
The department has had many names, including the Confidential Enquiry Branch, Post Office Investigation Branch, then Department and, later, Post Office Security and Investigation Services. Royal Mail is now one of the few remaining organisations in the UK authorised to investigate and prosecute crimes committed against itself.
