Margie L. Rice Mayor Police Department Andrew E. Hall Andy Quach*

centers in California and are functioning to facilitate better communication, coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement and public record-keeping agencies involved in prevention, investigation and prosecution of identity theft. Urange County does not have an Identity Theft Task Force or Sub-Task Force. The Grand Jury finding correctly observes Orange County does not have an WPD Response: Identity Theft Task Force or Sub-Task Force. The Orange County District Attorney's Office, Orange County city police

agencies and the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department provide some form of public information and resource materials outlining how one can prevent identity theft as well as corrective steps to take where identity theft has occurred. The Grand Jury finding correctly observes Orange County law enforcement WPD Response: agencies provide some form of public information and resource materials to victims of Identity Theft. WPD has a pamphlet providing this information. Eight city police agencies in Orange County have developed specialized

identity-theft crime reporting forms that incorporate standardized terms and information formats. These forms can help identity-theft victims repair damaged credit history more quickly. WPD is aware of several Orange County law enforcement agencies that have WPD Response: specialized forms for Identity Theft Victims. Currently, WPD does not use a standardized form for Identity Theft crimes. Standardized forms have a tendency to limit the questions asked and information received by officers in reference to Identity Theft. We reviewed a few of the forms other agencies provide, and we determined that we collect the equivalent amount of data, if not more, by using our current report writing system. Our experience with investigating identity theft indicates victims are required to provide a report number and date of report only to the credit agency to begin the credit restoration process; the other information collected on the forms (which primarily aids with the law enforcement investigation, if one is pursued) is not required by credit agencies/companies. The forms we reviewed required the victim to complete the document, and then an officer to review the data. Since our officers document the incident(s) themselves, the victim is saved the time and inconvenience of filling out a form. In addition, our Records personnel would have to add the data collected into our report writing system, which is a delay in getting the information to the detective. Finally, except in rare cases of extreme fraud (loss in excess of $10,000, and sometimes exceeding $50,000) most of the credit agencies/companies simply "write off" the loss, and perform no formal investigation into the crime— making the copy of the crime/incident information received by the victim from a standardized form unused by the agency/company. Of course, if the victim or credit agency/company requests a copy of our report, they can receive it within five days.