LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORT CARD

Many visitors to this site have expressed their dissatisfaction with the way their fraud complaints were handled by the police.  Usually, they were told that their unfortunate encounter with a con artist was a civil case.  In other words, no report would be placed on file with the department, and they would have to hire a private investigator, a lawyer, or both.  In other cases, the officers took a report, and then filed it without conducting an investigation.  Of those cases that were investigated, the victims soon learned that getting their day in court was never going to occur because the officers lacked the training needed to properly investigate such offenses. 

So why does this occur?  Why don’t the police take these crimes seriously?  More important, what can be done to correct this situation?

IF YOU DON’T CARE---WE DON’T CARE

During a 1995, survey of Canada’s Police Chiefs, they were asked to explain their inability to effectively investigate and prosecute fraud and other white-collar crime cases.  The chiefs cited the following:

Lack of trained resources           47%
Lack of financial resources         49%
Insufficient evidence                  29%
Other                                        22%

Survey participants also concluded that in the near future corporations would have to use private resources to investigate cases involving fraud.  The reasons for this included the complexity of the crimes committed, insufficient investigative expertise within their departments, and a lack of priority being placed on the investigation of white-collar crimes.  All of this despite the belief among 89% of the police chiefs that fraud would increase.

Some of the chiefs also made the following observations:

1. Absurdly low penalties are attached to serious fraud offenses.
2. Lawyers and judges tend to look at business frauds as an accepted part of doing business.  Nobody gets physically hurt, so it’s really not a serious problem.
3. There is too much reliance on alternative sentencing (e.g. warnings, probation, etc) for so-called non-violent crimes.  Many law makers and judges are of the mind that jails should be used for violent offenders only.

Although this survey was conducted in Canada, my law enforcement contacts assure me the results would be identical here in the United States, and elsewhere.  Fraud is not a high priority item with the police because it’s not a high priority item with the customers.  And the customers are you, and everyone else who relies on the police to keep them out of harm’s way.

After three decades worth of life within a bureaucracy, I can say with the utmost confidence that nothing gets done until sufficient numbers of citizens, like you, get mad.  When this occurs, the impossible suddenly becomes achievable, and the once ignored problems become non-problems.  Whether such an uprising occurs depends on how much more tolerance you and other citizens are willing to expend.  Perhaps if we stop to consider the mess we are leaving our children, our patience will dissipate, and we shall become less apathetic and more involved in dealing with the con artists who insist on bringing out the worse in all of us.

REASONABLE ANGER

If you need something to get mad about, consider this.  Contrary to popular belief, law enforcement could easily investigate and prevent most of the frauds now in use within your community.  To accomplish this would only require a handful of trained officers and prosecutors who have an understanding of how the various frauds work.  And those services need not place any undue strain on a department’ resources.  Officers, prosecutors, judges, and others from throughout the United States and abroad have already proven that the con artists can indeed be beaten at their own game with routine consistency.

Frustrated over the lack of support from their administrators, these law enforcement representatives have created an international organization known as Professionals Against Confidence Crime.  Using their own time and money, they have established an international network of experts who routinely identify, locate, and bring to justice scores of con artists who once considered themselves invincible.  Although PACC has proven what can be accomplished with a minimum of effort, there remains much to be done.  The most challenging task involves changing how others view fraud.

WRONGHEADED NOTIONS

Even more upsetting than the extent of the frauds being committed, is our willingness to accept the asinine notion that fraud pales in comparison to other crimes, or that those who fall prey to such schemes had it coming.  Far too many people have come to believe the liars, cheats, and psychopaths, who tell us they never really harm anyone.

To demonstrate how foolish this no-harm = no real crime theory really is, let’s apply it to a few “real crimes.”  Burglary, a felony offense, involves an act of someone breaking into your home while you are away.  Since no one is harmed, and only property is taken, what’s the big deal?  The same could be said about automobile theft, embezzlement, identity theft, theft from person where no injuries are sustained and all other offenses that do not result in your death or injury.    Minus the polite euphemisms, if we insist on playing the part of village idiots, then we have no right to complain when we are viewed and treated as such by our nation’s con artists, or anyone else who chooses to deceive us for their own personal gain. 

NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM

As fraud becomes more prevalent, (which is inevitable) you will notice increased media coverage on the various scams in use, and greater public awareness about the true extent of such crimes.  When learning that they are not alone in their victimization, victims who once chose to keep their encounter with a con artist to themselves will report such crimes to the police.  This increased reporting shall compel greater response from the police, the district attorneys, and the courts. 

How long it takes to achieve all of this depends on your willingness to get involved.  If you are of the belief that one person cannot make a difference, then you shall remain the con artist’s best friend.  If you let your elected officials know about your concerns, report all fraud offenses to the police, and refuse to allow con artists to enjoy the benefits of low-risk high-profit crimes, then these changes might well occur in our lifetime.  Just keep in mind that we are not getting any younger---so please hurry!

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