Identity
theft not gruesome, but arduous
More and more, he's being handed financial fraud cases - cases that often carry few clues but require dozens of hours of investigation and cross into other jurisdictions. "We're up to our ears in financial cases," he said. "There is a lot of backtracking and paperwork that is involved, if you want to do a case properly. It does tax any department, especially in the light of higher priority and violent crimes that come." As cases of identity theft continue to rise, law enforcement agencies are struggling to balance those with their current caseload. Milwaukee had the highest number of identity thefts in the state last year with 650 victims, compared with 465 in 2002, according to a Federal Trade Commission report released earlier this year. Madison reported 113 victims in 2003, compared with 102 in 2002; and Waukesha reported 49 cases in 2003 and 39 in 2002. The city of Racine ranked fourth in the state with 56 cases of identity theft in 2003. It was the first time that Racine had been among the top five cities in identity theft. Green Bay showed a minor decrease in 2003 with 65 cases, compared with 69 in 2002, the report said. Milwaukee has the largest police department in the state with more than 2,000 sworn officers, and it operates a special white-collar crime unit that investigates identity theft, said Sgt. Ken Henning. But smaller agencies are often short-staffed and don't have the resources to set aside special units to investigate such cases. "It becomes an economic issue," said Capt. Michael Babe of the Waukesha Police Department's criminal investigation unit. "Is it economically feasible? Does it make sense to bring witnesses to California, put them up in a hotel for $100 and make it right with the consumer? It becomes the value of the value of the identity. How much harm has been done to the individual and the victim?" Officials said the perpetrator of the crime is usually in another state and, therefore, in another jurisdiction. "A Milwaukee police officer is not going to jump in a car and drive to Miami Beach to arrest the guy using your name," said Jay Foley, co-executive director of the not-for-profit California-based Identity Theft Resource Center. Police have recommended that all departments take reports from identity theft crime victims. But some victims don't even go to their local police department and instead head straight for national organizations, such as the the FBI or the FTC, said FBI Special Agent Michael Johnson. When someone stole the identity of Kari Birney of Shorewood about five years ago and fraudulently charged $25,000 in her name, she first contacted the police department in California where the crime was committed. Police there told her that she should start with the local police because that's where she lived. A police officer in Shorewood helped her appeal to national organizations for help, but she says she felt frustrated that the system seemed to work against the victim. Now, she works with police on preventing identity theft cases. Many times, identity theft is lumped into broader categories, such as in Racine, where the crime is categorized as fraud or theft. "We need some type of differentiation established so that the police departments know exactly how to follow up based on the specific nature of the crime," Birney said. Sgt. Bill Macemon of the Racine Police Department saidpolice departments would like to devote as many resources as possible to such cases but do have to make choices. "When it comes to priority, it all has to do with the potential for making an impact," Macemon said. "If we have a case where there is no information to go on, that's going to have a lower priority than a case where somebody has a lot of information. We can't spend time on this when we already know we will not be able to solve it." Courtesy of: http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/sep04/259776.asp?format=print |