Explain how the police can attempt to prevent or address identity theft

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Identity theft is a complicated issue, and some of the solutions will lie beyond the ability of the police to handle. However, following are six recommended police responses to identity theft: encouraging businesses' awareness of their responsibility to protect employee and client records; educating people about protecting their personal information; collaborating with government and other service organizations to protect private information; working with local banks to encourage credit card issuers to adopt improved security practices; tracking delivery; and preparing a plan to prevent or minimize the harm of identity theft. Some agencies have trained citizen volunteers in identity theft; they are taught to pull crime reports on the types of thefts (e.g., stolen wallets, thefts from autos) that lead to identity theft crimes, and volunteers then contact the theft victims and advise them how to avoid becoming identity theft victims. The National Institute of Justice funded Project WHO? to train police on how to manage, analyze, and comprehend identity theft crime data stored in stand-alone police databases across the Internet. This improves the ability of the police to detect, prevent, and respond to this cross-jurisdictional problem.