Identity Theft: What are local Law Enforcement and Prosecutors Doing to Combat the Problem.*

R3

The Orange County District Attorney, the Orange County Sheriff-Coroncr Department and the city police departments in Orange County take steps to form and actively participate in a countywide Regional Identity Theft Task Force comprised of representatives of each of these agencies. The task force should seek the cooperation and participation of the United States Postal Inspector, the United States Secret Service, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and the United States Federal Trade Commission. Crimes involving identity theft are investigated by our Police Department's Property Crimes Unit. There are six detectives assigned to the unit, two having specialized forensic computer skills. Each detective may be assigned a variety of criminal cases including Fullerton: 100 Years of Community Pride 303 W. Commonwealth Avenue, Fullerton, California 92832-1775 (714) 738-6311 • Fax (714) 738-6758 • [email protected] • www.ci.fullerton.ca.us Page – 2 RE: Response to Grand Jury Identity Theft Findings June 2, 2004 Identity Theft. Each assigned Identity Theft case is evaluated for appropriate jurisdiction and solvability. The detectives then use government resources at the federal, state and local levels, as well as resources from the private sector, to resolve the cases. Taking into consideration our current staffing levels and prevailing fiscal circumstances, our participation in a task force is not feasible at this time. We do, however, remain open to participating in such a task force should staffing levels permit. Although the formation and staffing of a task force would be a challenge, we agree that having a multi-jurisdictional resource could greatly aid in the ability to investigate and prosecute Identity Theft cases. Our recommendation for such a task force would include operational guidelines ensuring proactive investigative efforts, in addition to reactive efforts. A proactive approach should consider undercover operations targeting criminal enterprises engaged in the large scale theft of items and information used to facilitate their crimes.

R4

Orange County city police departments and the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department work cooperatively to develop standardized public information materials, possibly modeled after excellent pamphlets that now exist, for use by all departments. The Fullerton Police Department currently provides a single sheet, tri-fold style pamphlet to victims. We also offer a two page "Identity Theft Prevention Tips" information sheet created by the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Additionally, we refer victims to the Federal Trade Commission website. They have an outstanding booklet. This booklet can and downloaded via their internet site at accessed, viewed, printed be http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/. Our City would not oppose issuing any standardized informational material developed cooperatively within Orange County. We would prefer to issue this information in addition to the information we already provide, believing the information we provide and resources we refer exceed the expectations of the Grand Jury.