Law Enforcement Cuts Mean Identity Theft Will Continue to Rise
Identity theft prevention has become more important than ever before. All over the country, budget cuts have forced many law enforcement agencies to lay-off a large number of employees. The Oakland Police Station cut 80 officers from their force of 687 last month alone. Such severe cuts leave the department ill-equipped to respond to calls involving burglary, vandalism and especially identity theft.
Non-violent crimes have sunk to the bottom of police stations agenda. With no funds to investigate these crimes and catch the criminals, identity theft rates will continue to rise. Criminals will see this as an opportunity to prey on victims and steal identity for financial gain without any consequences.
This leaves many victims frustrated and feeling helpless. There are other places to turn and many resources to utilize if you do become a victim of identity theft. The Identity Theft Resource Center is a great place to start. You can call the victims assistance line toll-free at 1 (888) 400-5530. There is also an Identity Theft Prevention and Recovery Workbook available that can walk you through the steps you need to take to prevent and recover from identity theft.
In most cases, law enforcement agencies are not saying NO to stopping or solving identity theft or non violent crimes, just putting them on the back burner. I still highly recommend that youvisit your local police station and file a report if you have been the victim of Identity Theft.
Facebook: Press 2 For Law Enforcement
I received an email last night from a well-known TV anchor wanting my input on a new Facebook issue. He’d read that when calling Facebook Headquarters, the automated attendant comes on and gives you options to reach each department, and the second option was to press 2 for “law enforcement.”
It could seem odd to many, but it’s true. If you call the Facebook Headquarters (650-543-4800) and reach the switchboard, the 1st option is “For customer support, press 1″ and the second option is “For law enforcement, press 2″. Law enforcement comes ahead of business development, marketing, press, and employment verification in the list of options.When you press 2, the next message says: “This message is only for members of law enforcement. Please note that due to a very large volume of incoming calls, the current call back time is two to four business days. For a faster response, please leave your work authorized email address… A member of Facebook’s security team will email in a timely manner.” Which means that Facebook is very busy fielding calls from law enforcement.
The anchor, and the rest of us, want to know why!
Sileo In the Media
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