Okaloosa County BOCC — March 18, 2013 — Smart Policing Initiative Grant Concept Paper — reading text

Purpose: = ce “The: Federal government is committed to en faith-based; have an equal opportunity to compete for-Federal f ~<the population of applicants for Federal funds, we are asking ~yprivate universities) to fill out this survey: oe : = ring that all qualified applicants, small or large; non-religious or n unding:: In order for us:to. bétter Understand. - Oo - Upon receipt, the survey will be separated from the a plication. information prov ded on the s urvey will notb considered. in Instructions for Submitting the Survey _ lectronically, 6 ease: Case: on haan 9 oO a3 onprofit private organizations (not including _. ny way in making funding decisions and will not be included in the Federal grants. database “While your help in this data collection process is greatly appreciated, completion of this survey If you. are applying using:a hard copy application, lease place the com pleted:s : ; Applicant Survey." Seal the envelope and include it along with your:application package: If you are applyir this survey along with your application, = : a s voluntary. envelope labele Applicant's (Organization) Name: |okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Applicant's DUNS Name: [613277649 Federal Program: BJA FY 13 Smart Policing Initiative CFDA Number: [16.751 . Has the applicant ever received a grant or contract from the Federal government? [ ]Yes organization? [| Yes organization? [ | Yes {_| Yes [_]No Is the applicant a faith-based [_] No Is the applicant a secular [_] No Does the applicant have 501(c)(3) status? [_] No 5, Is the applicant a local affiliate of a national organization? [| Yes [_] No 6. How many full-time equivalent employees does the applicant have? (Check only one box). [_] 3 or fewer [|] 15-50 [ ] 4-5 [|] 51-100 [ ] 6-14 [| over 100 7. What is the size of the applicant's annual budget? (Check only one box.) [ ] Less Than $150,000 [_] $150,000 - $299,999 [_] $300,000 - $499,999 [_] $500,000 - $999,999 [_] $1,000,000 - $4,999,999 [_] $5,000,000 or more Survey Instructions on Ensuring Equal Opportunity for Applicants Provide the applicant's (organization) name and DUNS number and the grant name and CFDA number. Self-explanatory. Self-identify. Self-identify. 501(c)(3) status is a legal designation provided on application to the Internal Revenue Service by eligible organizations. Some grant programs may require nonprofit applicants to have 501(c)(3) status. Other grant programs do not. Self-explanatory. For example, two part-time employees who each work half-time equal one full-time equivalent employee. If the applicant is a local affiliate of a national organization, the responses to survey questions 2 and 3 should reflect the staff and budget size of the local affiliate. Annual budget means the amount of money your organization spends each year on all of its activities. Paperwork Burden Statement According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary (EO 13198 and 13199). If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving the form, please write to: The Agency Contact listed in this grant application package. Concept Paper for Smart Policing Initiative -- Economic/Financial Crimes Unit Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office 1. AGENCY INFORMATION A. NAME: Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office, 1250 N. Eglin Pky, Shalimar, FL 32579, (850)651-7410 B. CHIEF OFFICER: Sheriff Larry R. Ashley lashley@sheriff-okaloosa.org C. GRANT CONTACT: Inspector George Collins gcollins@sheriff-okaloosa.org D. PROJECT MANAGER: Captain Arnold Brown abrown@sheriff-okaloosa.org 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM The primary focus of local law enforcement agencies is commonly, and historically, on violent, property, and vice crimes. Funding and training for and within these agencies reflects this priority. Economic and financial crimes (e.g. fraud, identity theft, computer-related economic offenses), however, do not normally receive as much attention within these types of agencies despite their increasing prevalence, economic impact, and the difficulty of solving or preventing these types of offenses using traditional proactive and reactive law enforcement strategies. Although consistent definitions of economic or financial crime are scarce within the literature, In fact, there appears to be relatively little agreement concerning the terminology used to describe these types of offenses, with “economic crime,” “white collar crime,” “financial crime,” and “fraud” seemingly used interchangeably. Nevertheless, these types of offenses tend to involve deception, illegal financial gain, and often a breach of trust (Pickett & Pickett, 2002). The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office experienced a 62-percent increase in reported fraud-related crimes during the period 2010 thru 2012. Economic and financial crimes generally increased 31-percent during the same period. The Sheriffs Office unincorporated area population is 122,056, with another 59,000 residing in municipalities served by four city police departments. The Sheriff's Office has 243 sworn personnel. Concept Paper for Smart Policing Initiative -- Economic/Financial Crimes Unit Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 2010 2010 2012 Chart 1 — Increase in Economic/Financial Crimes 2010-2012 Offenders in this category of crime have become increasingly more sophisticated in their methods, targeting, and technology. Local financial institutions, retail chains, and law enforcement have not kept pace in their methods and training. Furthermore, the true economic impact of the crimes has not been determined because of institutionalized problems with data reporting. For example, the rules for Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) do not include reporting data for losses to victims who live in one jurisdiction when the actual fraud takes place in another jurisdiction. Closure rates and, therefore, arrests of the offenders, are very low nationally because of under-reporting of the crime, lack of specialized training in most local agencies, very high loss thresholds for federal case involvement, and an outmoded means of reporting and processing reports. Anecdotally, it appears that successful fraud attempts target the elderly. Although people of all ages and demographics have been the targets of attempted fraud, the elderly population seems to actually fall victim more than other demographics. The present enforcement model, outlined below, hinders effective response, investigation and prevention. o Victim institution calls crime reporting number (Dispatch). 2 Concept Paper for Smart Policing Initiative -- Economic/Financial Crimes Unit Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office o Patrol deputy responds, takes report, interviews witnesses, gathers quickly available evidence. « Varied training and experience levels of responding deputies create a nonstandard initial investigation « Up to seven-day delay in report reaching Criminal Investigations Division « By the time the assigned investigator gets the case, witness memories have clouded, witnesses are unavailable, evidence and documents are not available or are tainted. o Insome cases, banks and businesses wait several days before even reporting the crime necause of a lack of faith in police action or ability to solve the case. The current solution rate (cases closed by arrest) for these types of crimes is approximately 2-percent to 15-percent, depending on the specific crime. Offenders are, therefore, able to repeat and refine their criminal activity to victimize more businesses and individuals. There is little information sharing between the Sheriff's Office and city police departments in real-time. City agencies respond to these crimes in the same way described above. 3. STEPS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office intends to build partnerships with banking institutions and major retailers where the bulk of high-value economic and financial crimes seem to occur. Working with our research partner, the University of West Florida, we will devise a survey mechanism to learn their attitudes and observations regarding victim profiles, modus operandi, ratio of attempted versus successful fraud events, factors contributing to failure of attempts, expectations of law enforcement, etc. We will also survey law enforcement officers to determine their attitudes and level of knowledge concerning investigation of economic/financial crimes. The research partner will work with our Information Technology Division and investigators to determine a better method of capturing field data as it occurs and during case entry. For example, finding a method for capturing monetary values of forged checks when there are numerous items related to a single case has been identified as one area requiring development. The current method involves listing the checks and amounts in the narrative portion of reports, thus preventing an automated way to mine the data and total the amounts. This will help determine the true amount of loss, which is currently under-reported. The research partner will evaluate existing agency data in addition to evaluating the impact of our proposed innovative approaches using new data collection Concept Paper for Smart Policing Initiative -- Economic/Financial Crimes Unit Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office approaches. The primary outcome variables to be examines are: number and rate of reported economic/financial offenses; clearance and arrest rates for economic/financial offenses; and time to closure of economic/financial offenses. We will conduct periodic in-process reviews to determine the value of our strategy and develop changes where necessary. 4. INNOVATIVE STRATEGY We propose a new approach aimed at reducing the incidence and impact of economic crimes, specifically targeting identity theft and retail-level fraud against financial institutions and businesses that conduct frequent check cashing, credit card, and value card transactions. The strategy includes both reactive and proactive components: Reactive: The county is divided into three response districts. Each district will have one Economic/Financial Crimes investigator assigned who will develop a direct relationship with each bank and targeted business within the district. Thereafter, when a financial crime occurs or is attempted at each targeted business, they will contact the district investigator directly, rather than call Dispatch to report the crime. Instead of a patrol officer responding to take a report and forward through channels, the trained investigator will begin work immediately to collect evidence, interview witnesses, analyze modus operandi, and initiate the field investigation. This will cut out up to seven days delay in the field investigation and will insure a more robust effort in the early stages. investigators will be selected based on experience and talent in the subject, and will receive additional training. We will set-up an additional cyber forensic workstation to provide Economic/Financial Crimes Investigators with rapid access to technical examination of seized computers and cellular telephones. Currently, there is up to a 6-month waiting period for such examinations. Proactive: Economic/Financial Crimes Unit investigators will work with analysts, bank management and security, and business loss prevention professionals, to identify trends and patterns in fraud and identity theft. This information will