Or at least that’s more or less what they’re saying when they pop off stats like this: that the San Francisco Police Department’s Fraud Detail is eight officers strong, and that those brave badge-holding men and women handle something between five and six thousand cases annually (but receive 8,000 complaints or allegations of fraud).
There used to be as many as 20 inspectors working on fraud cases; to have staffing levels dip to eight “amount[s] to a blank check for perpetrators of financial fraud”These fun facts were revealed this morning at the Public Safety Committee meeting; the Fraud Detail has been the subject of several hearings now at said committee, all called by Supervisor Bevan Dufty.
Victims of fraud can wait up to a year for an investigator to be assigned to their case, if they even get police investigators by that point, according to Dufty’s office.
There used to be as many as 20 inspectors working on fraud cases at 850 Bryant Street; to have staffing levels dip to eight “amount[s] to a blank check for perpetrators of financial fraud,” Dufty said in a statement. Blank check? How 20th-century: surely you mean it amounts to a stack of credit card numbers.
(According to the ABC I-Team story we linked above, Chief Heather Fong cut the Fraud Detail’s staffing level from 19 down to six as of September of last year; no word on when the extra two inspectors were added).
The committee heard testimony from two victims of fraud… and then adjourned so that everyone could head to Room 200 for Mayor Gavin Newsom’s unveiling of the budget. Which means – the Fraud Division is on nobody’s priority list right now, and folks should continue to shred any and all sensitive documents.
