Police hope to stem rise in identity theft

"It's an insidious crime, one that can go undiscovered for months and cause damage that can be costly and take years to repair.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country, say police. Though the overall number of reported identity thefts remains small in Maine, it is on the rise.

Portland police have begun a crime prevention program aimed at teaching residents how to protect personal information, like credit card and Social Security numbers, from people who would steal it. And a national database is being created to track information on victims so authorities can quickly differentiate between a legitimate identity and a stolen one.

"You're starting to see this spread into Maine," Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood said Tuesday. "All of a sudden we're starting to get phone calls. Even though the numbers are low, it's a crime we never had to deal with."

Maine authorities received 424 complaints of identity theft in 2004, 42 of them in Portland. There were 246,000 reports nationally."

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