Financial Crimes Unit
The Financial Crimes Unit is located at the Police Administration Building, 201 W. Mission St., San Jose, CA 95110, 408 277-4521.
The Unit is divided into two Details, Fraud Team and Burglary Team.
Fraud
The Fraud Team is comprised of one sergeant and six detectives who investigate financial crimes cases. Over 600 reports of these types of crimes are reported each month to the police department.
- Credit Card Theft
- Check Forgery
- Identity Theft
- Grand Theft
- Real Estate Fraud
- Elder Financial Abuse
- Embezzlement
Burglary
The Burglary Team is comprised of one sergeant and six detectives who investigate both commercial and residential burglaries. Over 400 burglaries are reported to the police department each month. We look for trends and commonalities since often one suspect or a group of suspects are responsible for committing multiple burglaries. The detectives work cases where the losses are large, or where they can connect a string of burglaries together. Although we may have a residential burglary we are not working, for example, we may eventually link that one burglary to a string. When this happens, we activate the case and file charges
How Cases Are Assigned
Each detective carries about 25 cases at any given time. The detective is responsible for seeing a case all the way through prosecution, or until all leads are exhausted and the case in inactivated or closed. The actual number of cases assigned to a detective is determined by the sergeant supervising the team. The sergeant takes into account the complexity of a case and the amount of work it will require when assigning it to a detective for investigation. One detective may have a smaller number of total cases assigned to them, but the cases are complex in nature involving large sums of money or multiple victims. Another detective may have more cases assigned, but they are smaller and less complex. The sergeant tries to strike a balance between assigning cases for investigation, and not overloading any one detective with too many cases to investigate.
Cases are triaged and assigned or closed based on the following criteria:
- Amount of loss
- Estimated number of hours required to investigate the case
- The identity of the suspect (including criminal history)
- Location of suspect
- Identity of victim (business, bank, individual)
- Could this case be better addressed in Civil Court?
- Current case load of investigators
- Likelihood of charges being filed
These criteria are considered in order to do a complete assessment of the case; one criterion alone is not the basis for a decision on whether or not the case is assigned. For example, a certain case may have a small amount of loss, however, there is reason to believe the suspect may be involved in more crimes or there may be more victims to be found. The knowledge and experience of the sergeants is heavily relied upon to make these decisions.
Private citizen victims are given more consideration than large financial institutions, whose practices and policies often contribute to their own theft and fraud issues. All cases involving financial elder abuse are assigned for investigation, as well as all identity theft cases where the suspect has used the victim’s name in the course of an arrest, giving the victim a false criminal history.
The detectives do an excellent job with the cases they are assigned, receiving many letters of appreciation from victims. Conversely, the sergeants handle a lot of telephone calls from victims who cases we have decided we cannot work due to lack of resources or workable leads. The staff of the Financial Crimes Unit fully understands the frustration of some victims, and we wish we could investigate every case. We are all committed to assisting victims where we can, and doing a thorough and complete job on the cases we can work.
Before an investigation may begin a police report must first be filed with the San Jose Police Department.
This may be done by one of the following manners:
- In person at the San Jose Police Department, 201 W. Mission St.
- At one of the local Community Policing Centers
- By phone 408-277-8900 or 3-1-1 (if you live in the City of San Jose)
- Or on-line at www.sjpd.org.
- For more information about reporting crimes, Click Here.
Phone reports are taken from Hours: 12:00 P.M - 4:00 P.M. only, 7 days a week except holidays.
If you file a report using our online crime reporting form be sure to print the report and record your case number for future reference.
To report a crime in progress or other emergencies call 9-1-1.
| Burglary Detail | 408 277-4401 |
| Financial Crimes Detail | 408 277-4521 |
Click here for tips on how you can help prevent burglary
The MOST important thing YOU can do is CALL THE POLICE to report a CRIME or any SUSPICIOUS activity. You have to be the eyes of your neighborhood. And remember you can always remain a pair of anonymous eyes!
Light up your residence, lock your doors at all times, and call the Police when you see something suspicious.
For additional crime prevention tips or to arrange for a crime prevention specialist to conduct a neighborhood association or group meeting contact the San Jose Police Crime Prevention Unit at: 408 277-4133.