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Can police intercept mail without a warrant?

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BeGone

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Missouri

you can read my story at this link.
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=296292&page=1&pp=15

however new things have happened since then.
i havent been charged for anything yet. however i took it upon myself to test a theory. first of all let me tell you that some of my mail has suddenly disappeared. it never arrived. on the package containing the syringe from my last thread, it had a fake name , for this post's sake, lets say it was "Bigman" or something. well , i used that name online to keep my privacy, and i also order things online using this name. well many packages addressed t me under that name have never arrived and should have been here weeks ago.
up to this point (jan 9th 2006) no warrants have been issued to me.

so back to my test.
i sent both a package (with random trinkets , keychain, fish food etc type stuff) and a envelope with a $1 bill wrapped in paper. addressed them to myself with the same tagname on it, and mailed it from a different town. here it is almost 2 weeks later and neither has shown up.

during the police incident i remember an officer saying "he'll be getting more stuff in the next few days i bet".

well since there are no warrants issued, and mail is federal stuff, is it illegal for them to intercept my mail?

if so what actions would i take to stop this, as i have stuff i paid good money for (and which the items are LEGAL and in now way can be construed as illegal) that hasnt arrived because of this crap.

also if there is some type of warrant to intercept my mail, how would i go about finding a copy of this warrant?

its been nearly a month since the incident, think they have a police report filed yet?

as i would greatly want to get a copy of it into my hands as soon as possible as the ACLU has agreed to take my case if i am charged or wish to pursue a civil suit.
 


BeGone

Junior Member
do you think you can read? cuz i dont think you can.
look at my last post closely......
it was CLOSED!
thus the lil lock icon next to it on the forum list.
plus this is a totally different question, not about the legality of a police entry, but of intercepting mail.

hope you dont feel TOO stupid now.
 

zippysgoddess

Senior Member
I hope you don't feel too stupid for not knowing that the post office is not obligated to deliver any mail under the name of someone who is not registered to receive mail at that address. If you have not gone in and filled out a form authorizing delivery of items addressed to that name, then they can just return them all to sender!

Being that you already had the incident with the syringe, they are probably especially leery of what you might be up to, and they have the perfect right to not deliver any of it. They simply return legitimate mail to the sender as undeliverable, no such person at that address, and junk or non-returnable mail is simply incinerated at the close of each business day.

Have you never received a postal audit card before that you had to fill out listing the names of all people who should be receiving mail at that address? You have to sign that you can legally accept mail at that box for each of those people that you listed, and return it to them?

You aren't simply just supposed to start using a name and address, you know, you are supposed to go in and register that address under your name(s) at the post office.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Zippy, this isn't meant to argue the point but I have never recieved any such thing you speak of. As well I have recieved mail addressed to Dad and several other "tags" if you will that had absolutely no true description of me.

As far as registering yourself to an address, when my children were born, I never registered any of them and their mail came. Even when it was a very recent event.

Now think about this, haven't you ever heard the stories where people's cats and dogs got credit cards. They obviously were never registered with the PO.


To the OP: if they had a warrant to intercept your mail you would not know and probably not be able to find out, at least very easily. It is common practice to not divulge this type of info, especially if it is an ongoing investigation.

Have you tried sending a package as you have with return reciept requested? That way there would be tracking available to you to see where it "got lost".


its been nearly a month since the incident, think they have a police report filed yet?

as i would greatly want to get a copy of it into my hands as soon as possible as the ACLU has agreed to take my case if i am charged or wish to pursue a civil suit.

as far as a police report, there should be one very soon after an incident. I don't know if there is any requirement as to when after an incident but whenever I have needed a police report it has been only a couple days at most. You just go into the police station that is involved and ask them. There is often some minimal charge.
 

xylene

Senior Member
zippysgoddess said:
Have you never received a postal audit card before that you had to fill out listing the names of all people who should be receiving mail at that address?
The OP is piece of work, but I too have never heard of nor recieved a "postal audit card" and a google search of that term returns no results. Hardly conclusive proof I know, but I would like to know more.

From my experiences with the USPS, the level of mail sorting you are describing is just neither occuring, nor possible given the staffing levels I have witnessed at post offices all over NY and FL. I would love to not recieve mail for previous residents etc...
 

Kane

Member
1. The police do need a warrant to seize your mail.

2. If they have a warrant, they don't have to tell you about it.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
BeGone said:
do you think you can read? cuz i dont think you can.
look at my last post closely......
it was CLOSED!
thus the lil lock icon next to it on the forum list.
plus this is a totally different question, not about the legality of a police entry, but of intercepting mail.

hope you dont feel TOO stupid now.

**A: can you just BeGone.
 
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