NCJ Number
177418
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 66 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 22-27
Date Published
1999
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes California's efforts to deal with high-tech crime.
Abstract
California has probably faced as much information-age crime as any State because of the concentration of high-tech industry and the State's heavy use of technology. Information-age crimes include many of the traditional crimes such as burglary, armed robbery, and hijacking. However, the targets now include electronic components, memory and microprocessor chips, disk drives, computer upgrade cards, cell phones, computer peripherals and computers, especially laptops. In response, the California legislature created the "High-Technology Theft Apprehension and Prosecution Program." The program's major purpose is to provide funding to fight high-tech crime through the development of regional task forces. Oversight of the program is the responsibility of the High-Technology Crime Advisory Committee of the governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning. Committee members are evenly split between law enforcement and private industry. The article describes task force activities and plans for the future.