Public Safety

The term public safety encompasses police and fire departments. Law enforcement officers, in particular, are exposed to opportunities to commit fraud by covering up crimes or using their positions for personal gain. Law enforcement officers are also subject to having their reputations maligned by fraudsters when the latter masquerade as officers.

The term public safety can also include emergency operations undertaken by governments in reaction to natural and man-made disasters. The need for speedy reaction to disasters, and the sheer volume of the services and money that may be required, result in many of the internal controls normally in place over procurement, purchasing and payment being circumvented or the system simply being overwhelmed by events. fraudsters—individuals cheating aid programs, contractors swindling governments and victims, vendors engaging in price gauging—know how to take advantage of circumstances, adding significant cost to providing relief to disaster victims. Experience with 2005’s hurricanes Katrina and Rita demonstrated that the bigger the disaster, the more widespread and audacious the fraud.