Ignoring Fraud
I fully understand why a growing number of fraud victims are so upset over
law enforcement’s lackluster treatment of our nation’s con artists. I understand
only because these victims are being ignored and misadvised with routine
predictability. This problem, however, can be corrected .
America’s #1 Crime
As fraud has long since
become our nation’s #1 crime, we now have a much harder time ignoring it, and
yet we insist on classifying such deception as the unavoidable price of living
in America. That is, of course, until the inevitable occurs and such deception
touches us personally. When we, our or loved ones, learn just how devastating
this deception can be, we naturally look to our police for help. It is then that
we often make a shocking discovery. There is no help, only lame excuses. Some
victims are led to believe the crime was their fault and that they need only be
more careful in the future. Others are told to seek civil remedies because it’s
not really a criminal matter. The most frustrating offenses involve those where
ample evidence of a crime exists, but the police botch the investigation or give
the impression that they have better things to do with their time. So why does
this happen? Moreover, what can be done to correct the situation?
Although we often use the term “criminal justice
system” seldom is there any agreement on what this really means. For the
layperson, it represents a system that was created to ferret out and punish
criminals. For groups such as the ACLU, it means a united front against the
forces of evil, which they consider to be the police who do nothing more than
represent the wealthy. For the police it means working within a system of
ambiguous rules and conflicting regulations, public apathy, second-guessing,
political interference, and outright hostility. When people hurt, they naturally
look for someone to blame. Because the police operate in the front lines, and
are the most visible, they frequently become the perceived fault of all that is
wrong within our system.
In truth, the police are a very small part of the overall system. In a perfect
world they work in conjunction with the citizens and their elected officials,
the district attorneys, the courts, the parole boards and the legislature. When
any one of those branches falters, the entire system ceases to fulfill its
intended purpose. And like any bureaucracy, if anything can go wrong --- it
will.
Obstacles
With fraud offenses, which include those crimes committed by sweetheart
swindlers, transient criminal groups, and so on, the police must cope with an
immediate and aggravating disadvantage. For whatever reason, our society just
doesn’t view fraud as a “real crime.” I encountered an example of this a few
years ago while being interviewed by a radio talk show host. He was quick to
chastise me and other officers for wasting our time on the investigation of
non-violent offenses, when we should be concentrating on the “real crimes” like
rape, murder, and robbery. Such wrongheaded thinking feeds on the assumption
that these non-violent offenses only affect those who deserved what they got.
If you need further examples of how little the masses care about this topic,
then take a few minutes to visit any of the on-line forums or chat rooms that
exist on the internet. What you will discover is a lack of any serious
participation. In comparison, most chat rooms are inundated with thousands of
people who spend lots of time insulting one another, and devising other ways to
avoid saying anything intelligent. Here is another example. I have served as an
expert at the AskMe.com site for over a year now. My specialty is fraud and con
games. Seldom do the few questions asked pertain to fraud. One man wanted to
know why cock fighting is illegal, and another wanted me to help him stalk his
ex-girlfriend. And these were among the more intelligent questions asked.
With no pubic outcry for serious law enforcement intervention, you can bet that
this is exactly what you shall receive. Law enforcement administrators, faced
with restricted budgets and limited staff are forever looking for ways to do the
impossible. This means that they must focus mostly on the crimes that receive
the most news coverage. As you might have guessed, that means murders, rapes,
robberies, and what ever else the media can use to shock their potential
customers. Let us not forget, the media are many things, but foremost they are a
business and not the absolute purveyors of unfettered truth. If this were not
the case, then it is unlikely that we would now fear most the crimes least apt
to affect us, while completely ignoring those that occur with routine
predictability.
Cons-10
General Public-0
Thus far, we have an apathetic public, a biased news media, uninterested police
administrators, and no shortage of con artists. From this do you really think
that the police are adequately trained in the art of fraud investigation, or
might the con artists of our world have the upper hand here? Let’s see.
Con artists do what they do 365 days a year, every year. It only stands to
reason that they amass obscene wealth during their criminal careers because they
seldom encounter any serious law enforcement intervention. And when they do,
they can afford to hire those dream-team-lawyers who know well how to distort
reality. Most often, however, lawyers are unneeded because the officers assigned
to investigate don’t really understand the crime, which results in little or no
useful evidence being obtained. This in turn leaves the district attorneys with
little or nothing to work with and every reason to settle for a plea deal. This
usually means restitution, which is nothing more than giving back all or some of
what they took. How this serves as deterrence to crime I have yet to figure out.
In any case, the con artists are far more organized and consistent than our
criminal justice system --- and they know it.
FraudTech
