Easy Access to Credit (the old-fashioned way)

Ten days after thieves smashed my car window and stole my purse at Sunset Cliffs; ten days after they ran up about $1,000 worth of charges at stores a few miles away from the scene, the San Diego Police Department returned my call to take a report.

 The SDPD's telephone report unit has a backlog of 700 crime victims waiting to give reports - 590 on the day my purse was stolen. A very candid member of the unit told me that they take the reports mainly to help victims with their insurance process.

"When it comes to the credit cards, because you don't have to pay, the credit card company becomes the victim," I was told.

And will they follow up on the information I have, the surveillance tapes at the stores and the Verizon phone card numbers?  Not likely. Or did they let the local patrol officers know about the theft? No, because there were no witnesses and no suspects, and Sunset Cliffs is a highly transient area.

Well, okay. But what if there's someone working the area looking for joggers getting out of their cars? What if the same people are returning to Target and J.C. Penney's again and again with different cards?

 Seems likely. According to creditcards.com, a website that offers people credit cards, Americans suffered $48 billion in all types of credit card fraud last year. While fraud losses are increasing at 7 percent a year, use is up 20 percent, suggesting that card companies are finding ways to detect fraud sooner.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php

Here's a really simple way: engage the local police to enforce the law and go after thieves! That $48 billion in losses is most assuredly passed on to consumers through higher interest and fees. Why not treat them like they've left a trail - as they have - and begin enforcing the law.

And why not create a method to let officers know about similar thefts on their beats? Right now, the thieves are free to return right back to where I left my car as soon as they finish their shopping and hit the car next to mine. There's no mechanism to let police know if an area is being worked, beyond a 10-day-old report.

That would take the fun out of the shopping spree!

As it stands, we're paying for it anyway.

-  photo by Marty Graham