Office of Justice Programs Weekly News Brief

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Office of Justice Programs:

Survey Highlights Impact of Identity Theft—A recently released survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics finds that an estimated 11.7 million persons, or about five percent of all persons age 16 or older in the United States, were victims of identity theft during the two years prior to being surveyed in 2008.  Financial losses related to identity theft are estimated at more than $17 billion.  According to the survey, men and women were equally likely to experience identity theft; however, a greater percentage, or 6 percent, of persons ages 16 to 24 were victims of at least one type of identity theft compared to 3.7 percent of persons age 65 or older.  Also, the survey found that persons living in households with an income of $75,000 or higher were more likely to experience identity theft than persons in households with lower incomes.  The survey found that the majority of victims, or 68 percent, reported the identity theft to a bank or credit card company and about 17 percent of identity theft victims reported the incident to a law enforcement agency.  These and other survey findings are discussed in Victims of Identity Theft, 2008 (NCJ 231680).  The data in the report is from the 2008 Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) which surveyed more than 56,000 persons age 16 or older in the United States about identity theft.  http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov

Nomination Period for Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Opens—The Bureau of Justice Assistance is accepting nominations until Feb. 15, 2011, for the Federal Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery and the State and Local Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery.  BJA administers this program created by the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-298) to recognize acts of bravery performed between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2010, by federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers nominated by their agency's leadership.  Additional information about the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery and nomination materials are available at www.ojp.gov/BJA/CBOB.

Paper Offers Management Strategies for Police Departments—In Making Policing More Affordable: Managing Costs and Measuring Value in Policing, San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon and Harvard Kennedy School Senior Research Associate Todd Foglesong suggest strategies to help agencies reduce their costs while managing demand and revaluing and re-engineering policing.  This paper is the third in a series prepared by the Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety, a roundtable of leaders in law enforcement and academia funded by the National Institute of Justice and managed by the Harvard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice and Policy and Management.  http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/231096.pdf

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/criminaljustice/research-publications/executive-sessions

OJP11047

SOURCE Office of Justice Programs