Volume 5, Issue 7    |    Back to Publications

Our Tax Dollars at Work

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the new United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last month that in a cooperative effort to fight crime, the organizations had promulgated a new version of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9). The revised form includes few changes and many employers wonder if their tax dollars could not have been better spent. The new form deletes references to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), and replaces the references with those of USCIS and ICE. USCIS and ICE (Divisions of the Department of Homeland Security) now handle most immigration issues within the United States and abroad.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working on a substantial revision to the I-9 form, but has released no details. A revised form is scheduled for release later this year. The whole affair raises questions, however, as to the effectiveness and direction of DHS. While employers will complete the I-9 to presumably prevent ineligible workers from getting legitimate jobs, the real problem is our porous borders. As long as illegal workers are able to cross into our country, new I-9 forms and stricter employer penalties for non-compliance will not make America safer. One must ask: if this revised form of homeland security amounts to shuffling a few cards, renaming and combining a few federal agencies, and few form changes, what on earth took so long? If this country is to truly ever be safe, we must first secure our borders. No institution, regardless of how grand it is, can ever protect its members or its assets as long as anyone can enter it undetected.

Your comments are welcome.

Eugene F. Ferraro, CPP, CFE, PCI

Business Controls, Inc. Welcomes New Staff

BCI's Investigative Department and Behavioral Sciences Team have each welcomed new members in the last month. Brad Mathers joins BCI as an Investigative Consultant after years of service as a forensic clinician and trial consultant in the private sector. Mr. Mathers will primarily be involved with investigative and consultative projects, but will also be assisting in the development of BCI's Behavioral Sciences Unit with forensic assessments. He earned his Master's degree in Forensic Psychology in 2002 from the University of Denver.

Amy Slettedahl joins BCI's Behavioral Sciences Team full time after completing her Master's degree in Forensic Psychology in June 2005. Ms. Slettedahl has been with BCI for two years training and managing organizations with the use of BCI's anonymous incident reporting systems, MySafeWorkplace® and MySafeCampus®. Ms. Slettedahl will be responsible for helping in the development and expansion of forensic psychology related services, including assessment and training, and will continue to be a senior coordinator of special investigations and undercover investigations.

Lindsey Lee likewise joins the BCI Behavioral Sciences Team full time after completion of her field placement at BCI and earning her Master's degree in Forensic Psychology from the University of Denver in June of 2005. Ms. Lee will be responsible for supporting and consulting for undercover and special investigations as well as the training, implementation, and supervision of undercover operatives. Additionally, Ms. Lee is assisting in the development and expansion of the Behavioral Sciences Unit to include forensically related evaluations, trainings, and other activities.

Risk Management in Stalking Cases

Until the late 1980's, most people had never heard the term "stalker." Now "stalking" is firmly embedded in our lexicon, legislature, and culture. Our popular culture has presented a double message on the issue, as movies such as "Fatal Attraction" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" have attempted to portray stalkers as lethal (which they can be), while music such as "Every Breath You Take" and products such as Calvin Klein's "Obsession" make the concept of stalking almost acceptable. The unfortunate reality is that stalking is a very real and dangerous criminal behavior, and stalkers can produce intense trauma, fear, and the feeling of loss of control in their victims. Furthermore, the threat of a stalker is probably closer than you think: 1 in 12 American women and 1 in 50 American men will be victims of stalking in their lifetime. Each year one million women and 400,000 men are stalked in the U.S.

If you or someone you know is a victim of stalking, contact your local authorities and insist that a police report be filed and document the stalking activities (keep the letters, gifts that are sent and record conversations if possible). Furthermore, inform friends and family of the situation, contact the local prosecutor, and seek professional counseling and investigative services. The victim should alter their normal patterns of movement, upgrade locks in their home, get a large dog that will respond to unusual noises, and hire personal security if possible. In other words, utilize a team approach to the problem, create a game plan as to how to ensure safety and minimize risk, and regain some power in the situation. You just might be able to keep those "Obsessions" to a minimum.

Quote of the Month: "A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats." - Benjamin Franklin

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Costing Corporations

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was designed to not only regulate the disclosure of financial and accounting information, but also to help the public, specifically investors, reclaim their confidence in corporate America. However, the cost of compliance to corporations is proving to be greater than expected, according to a survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) by Financial Executives International (FEI), a professional organization of CFOs and other senior financial executives. The cost of compliance was estimated at $4.36 million for the 217 public companies surveyed (those surveyed had previously expected to pay $3.14 million). The majority of respondents felt that giving investors more confidence in a company's financial reports was a benefit of Sarbanes-Oxley, but 94 percent thought that the costs of compliance would exceed the benefits.

For more information about Sarbanes-Oxley, or to learn how to make your compliance more cost-effective, call Business Controls, Inc. at 303-526-7600.

Fact: In 1789, the year the Supreme Court was created, the chief justice's salary was $4,000, while associate justices made $3,500. By 2005, the chief justice's salary had risen to $208,100, with associate justices receiving $199,200.

Senate to Decide on Vital Investigative and Security Bill

S. 1332, The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005 will be heard and discussed in Washington before the next Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on July 14, 2005. The bill is designed to enhance punishment for identity theft and other violations of data privacy, as well as to improve the security of personally identifiable information. The bill appears to be a response to the public outrage over identity theft and the compromise of personal information. This outrage was exacerbated recently by a disastrous security breach by Choicepoint, a data broker who unwittingly allowed for the private information of nearly 150,000 Americans to be compromised to well-organized criminals pretending to be legitimate businesses.

While not objecting to the spirit of S. 1332, private investigators and security professionals are viewing the bill as a handicap that would drastically reduce their ability to provide services. Currently, there is no exemption for investigators to access, for example, Social Security numbers. S. 1332 would create barriers for private investigators and security professionals alike to obtain background information such as Social Security numbers, which may limit the timeliness and effectiveness of subsequent investigations.

Private investigators are often hired to prevent business ruin and job losses by investigating embezzlement, robberies, burglaries, thefts, losses, fires, and other casualty claims. Without private investigators, corporations and other injured parties would be limited to the resources law enforcement can expend on the investigation. The General Accounting Office has found that insufficient resources are allocated by authorities to investigate such crime and police departments face jurisdictional complications. Victims often turn to private investigators to help them recover their credit and good names. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that over 27 million Americans were victims of identify theft and victims lost close to $48 billion in 2003.

Security professionals rely on their ability to gather information about individuals not only for conducting investigations, but for the purpose of locating witnesses, missing persons, heirs, "deadbeat parents," debtors, and pension beneficiaries.

Security companies and organizations are attempting to prevent any unintended damage to the court system and commerce caused by overly broad regulatory language meant to protect personal identification information. The concern is that restrictive legislation such as S. 1332 may result in punishment for the very people and organizations leading the charge against identity theft. By taking away the primary tools used by private sector investigators to fight identity fraud and theft, those who are handicapped are unfortunately the only resource most victims can afford.

For more information, go to www.nciss.org and look on the right side under "NCISS Identity Theft Seminar".

Identity Fraud Summit July 14 & 15, 2005

Once again, the National Council of Investigation and Security Services will "Hit the Hill" and lobby Congress regarding issues critical to the investigative and security industry. NCISS requests YOUR help.

Please mark your calendar and join them for this important event. NCISS is also sponsoring Washington D.C.'s first Identity Fraud Summit. This is a FREE seminar with lunch included. NCISS will help you get appointments with your legislators or their representatives and will provide you with handouts and talking points. Attendees may also tag along with a seasoned veteran. Please RSVP to NCISS at your earliest convenience and help the private investigations industry FIGHT BACK.

Hotel room availability is limited so act quickly.

Thursday July 14, 2005
8:00 AM to 10:00 AM	Orientation Meeting with Continental Breakfast
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM	Capitol Hill Appointments
Friday July 15, 2005
8:30 AM to 9:30 AM	Jon McDowall, Fraud Resource Group       Emerging Trends in Identity Frauds
9:45 AM to 10:45 AM	Tom Sadaka, Former Special Counsel, Florida Statewide Prosecutor       Computer Crime and Identity Theft
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM	Michael Levin, Task Force Supervisor, US Secret Service       US Secret Service Financial Crimes Task Force
12:00 PM to 12:30 PM	Pre-Lunch Break
12:30 PM to 1:45 PM	Betsy Broder, Assistant Director, Federal Trade Commission       ID Frauds and Recent Data Breaches (Luncheon)
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM	Jonathan Rusch, Prosecutor, US Department of Justice       DOJ Prosecutions of ID Frauds and Phishing
3:15 PM to 5:00 PM	Panel Discussion: Identity Fraud-related Legislative Initiatives       Moderated by: Francie Koehler, Legislative Chair, NALI       Betsy Broder, Assistant Director, Federal Trade Commission       Privacy Advocate, To Be Announced       Brian McGuinness, President, NCISS       Bruce Hulme, Legislative Committee Chair, NCISS

For more information call Ms. Carol Ward, NCISS Executive Director, at 800.445.8408.

Association of Threat Assessment Professionals - Who We Are

Over the past decade, violent crimes involving stalking, workplace violence, and attacks (or threats of attacks) on public figures and officials have been prominent in the news. In response, law enforcement and security professionals are turning to prevention as a key component of the strategy to control these offenses. A preeminent organization, the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP), is dedicated to enhancing the knowledge base of practitioners in this field.

ATAP is a nonprofit organization whose objective is to learn more about how best to protect victims of stalking, harassment, and other various threat situations. Its mission is to share and facilitate the experiences and techniques of professionals in the field of threat assessment and/or threat management. ATAP serves to create both a professional and academic environment where flow of information is fostered in the following areas:

• Sharing of experiences (Via round-table discussions and training workshops)
• Assessment techniques and data base gathering
• Predictive factors of dangerousness
• Case management
• Research data and findings
• Intervention techniques

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