Until recently, identity theft was the kind of case some police detectives immediately shunted to that dusty file cabinet in the back of the squad room.
The crimes--which involve crooks who assume other people's identity for the purpose of accessing credit cards and looting bank accounts--are among the hardest cases to crack. They often involve complex computer work and tracking suspects who could be living anywhere in the world.
But as identity theft reaches what federal officials call alarming levels, a new law gives police in California no choice but to take the cases more seriously.
The law, which took effect in January, requires all state law enforcement agencies to take reports of identity theft--regardless of where the crimes take place. This is important, consumer advocates and others said, because the criminals can commit the fraud hundreds of miles from where the victim lives.
"There was a lot of confusion and frustration. People didn't know where to turn," said former Assemblywoman Susan Davis, who wrote the bill and now serves in Congress. "I would hope that it has clarified [to] the police . . . their responsibility and provided a resource and recourse to the people."
Since the law took effect, police have reported significant increases in the number of identity theft cases. The Los Angeles Police Department, for example, said the number of cases it handles has jumped twofold during the first four months of the year, with the department getting more than 100 new complaints a week.
"It's the buzzword," said Los Angeles police Det. Ed Whyte, who has 37 cases of identity theft on his desk. "And it's going to grow because it's an easy crime to commit and the yield is large."
Smaller police departments in places such as Anaheim and Irvine, which until now rarely dealt with the crime, now report anywhere from 30 to 60 new cases a month.
"It's a marked increase," said Newport Beach police Lt. John Klein, whose department is now recording about 20 reports of identity theft a month. The new law "makes it a lot easier because it allows victims to clean up their credit report."
Getting a police report number is crucial for identity fraud victims because financial institutions require it before they can start repairing their credit.
Despite the law, however, police said identity theft cases remain difficult to solve. Often suspects use the Internet to glean financial information about victims and then use their credit cards to make purchases and assume their identity.
