NCJ Number
205618
Date Published
April 2004
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper outlines steps that Australasian (Australian States/Territories and New Zealand) police organizations can take to ensure that victims of identity theft are not further victimized as a result of their interactions with police.
Abstract
"Identity theft" generally refers to the perpetrator's obtaining sufficient information about a person to be able either to conduct financial transactions that harm the person or to conduct other criminal activities using the victim's identity. When police encounter identity theft, they may interact with the victim either as a crime victim or as a suspect due to his/her name being associated with crimes committed by the perpetrator of identity theft. Although stealing a person's identity is not in and of itself an offense in Australasian jurisdictions, many of the identities that are stolen are subsequently used by the thieves in criminal activities. Consequently, the police are confronted with having to deal with innocent individuals whose identities have been used in the commission of crimes, either against the victim of the identity theft or against some other person or organization. Recognizing the impact of identity theft, although it is not an offense in itself, Ausralasian police jurisdictions have agreed to focus on identity theft as an issue during the period 2003-2005. The objectives of such a focus are to recognize a new class of victim that is emerging as a result of identity theft, as well as to put in place procedures that will assist victims of identity theft and provide them with timely and practical advice. These objectives may best be achieved, however, by longer term initiatives that include legislative reform. Police are particularly at risk of aggravating the victimization experience when the identity thief has committed crimes using the victim's identity. This means that the police must take great care in conducting the identification process, recognizing that the claims of innocence by a suspect whose name has been associated with a crime may in fact be a victim of identity theft. This means testing various physical characteristics of the actual perpetrator of the crime that may be on record from the investigation of the crime and then matching them to the physical characteristics of the identity-theft victim. Police must also ensure that the person claiming his/her innocence is not in fact the perpetrator of the identity theft carrying stolen identity papers such as a driver's license or other means of identification. This can be done by searching the police database for any accurate information on the characteristics of the real person whose name and identity are at issue. Police should have written procedures for investigating cases in which identity theft may have occurred and be prepared to conduct a speedy collection of the necessary information to ensure that actual victim's of identity theft are not unduly inconvenienced or harmed by the police response to their situation. 12 references