Cramping the Style of Identity Thieves

Today, we cramped the style of identity thieves everywhere by holding the first ever "Identity Theft Prevention Day" in town. I want to first thank the Harrison Police Department for being our gracious hosts and the Westchester County Department of Environmental Services for providing the mobile shredder.

I decided to hold this event after many residents asked me what they should be doing with their sensitive unwanted documents. Far too many times, we get something in the mail and say "I will look at this later" or "I should hold on to this". Meanwhile, "later" comes along in the form of a month, a year etc. and we never look at that document and have never needed it. Pretty soon our living and work environment is overcome by unneccessary paperwork. But it is paperwork we cannot just throw in the garbage. Many of it has our identity on it: names, addresses, social security numbers etc. You don't want someone picking that up and reading it. In fact, you don't want anyone getting that info. This is identity theft and it happens all too often around the world. By shredding your documents you are preventing the "dumpster divers" of the world from getting a hold of your bills, legal papers, credit card statements etc. In addition to shredding their documents today, I handed out a packet of information to each resident on way's to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft. To recieve your packet, please contact me at jacocella@harrison-ny.gov and I would be happy to email it to you.

I have also been asked if I would consider holding an "e-waste" day. This is where residents can drop off their old computers, televisions, printers etc. to be discarded. I am currently in discussion with Westchester County to hold one of these joint events later in the year and will keep you posted.

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