Postal Service Advises How Best to Handle a Suspicious Package

Postal inspectors on Friday advised mail recipients to isolate suspicious packages and notify authorities immediately.

Kenneth W. Newman, deputy chief inspector of investigations for the U.S. Postal Service, said his inspectors are part of joint terrorism task forces that have been established with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

If a suspicious package is received, “we stress that you isolate the object,” Newman told a news briefing. “In a good mail room, a good environment, a safe mail room, there should be an isolation area, an area where there is very little traffic.”

If the suspicious item is received at home, family members should stay away from it, he said.

“We urge you to make sure that no one else goes near that item,” Newman said. “Anyone who has been near that item or handled it, you need to make sure that individual does not leave the area, that you record who that individual is and what the circumstances were.”

Newman advised any person who has handled a suspicious letter or package to “vigorously and carefully wash your hands.”

Newman said the public should be alert to several characteristics of a suspicious package. These include parcels that “are unexpected or from someone unfamiliar to you, are addressed to someone no longer with your organization or are otherwise outdated,” he said.

Additionally, the public should be suspicious of packages with no return address or one that cannot be verified as legitimate, and of parcels that are unusually heavy for their size or are lopsided or oddly shaped, Newman said.

Other danger signs include parcels with stains or strange odors or that have wires protruding from them, officials said.

“It’s very important that we exercise care and caution both in our personal mail and in business mail,” Newman said. “I would urge each business to work with their security department or security consultant to talk about establishing safe mail room procedures.”