Ordinance proposed to prevent identity theft

By Emily Burton, Staff Writer

Residents of Pikeville could soon have their identities better protected.

At a regular meeting Tuesday, the Pikeville City Commission passed the first reading of an ordinance amendment, which would help prevent identity theft.

The ordinance covers utility rules and regulations.

The change stems from a state mandate, City Manager Donovan Blackburn said.

According to Blackburn, a memorandum sent to the city by the Kentucky Rural Water Association, said all municipalities must adopt language governing identity theft prevention for their utilities.

The new chapter to the ordinance is intended, “to identify red flags that will alert our employees when new or existing accounts are opened using false information, protect against the establishment of false accounts, (also established would be) methods to ensure existing accounts were not opened using false information, and measures to respond to such events.”

These rules would cover all accounts opened in person, via phone, fax, the Internet, as well as all accounts accessed in person, via phone either through person-to-person or automated calls, and the Internet.

The red flags used to spot potential identity theft would be, fraud or activity alerts received from various credit reporting agencies, a credit freeze reported by these agencies and a notice of an address discrepancy.

Other red flags would be “inconsistent activity patterns indicated by consumer report such as: recent and significant increase in volume of inquiries, unusual number of recent credit applications, a material change in use of credit and accounts closed for cause or abuse.” Any altered identification, or an ID that didn’t match the applicant and any account previously reported as fraudulently established, would also raise red flags.

Any employee who suspects fraud or detects a red flag would be required to report the situation to a manager and could also: ask the applicant for additional documentation, close the account or not establish the account, and notify authorities.

In addition, the amendment would require any documentation whether paper or electronic be kept in locked cabinets. Employees also would be required to use password activated screen savers so the computer could be locked when it was not in use, passwords would be required and employees would have to change their usernames and passwords monthly. Employees would be required to notify a supervisor in the event of a security breach. Any employee who violated the security policy would be “subjected to discipline, up to, and including dismissal,” according to the amendment.

Blackburn said the amendment was drafted in response to the memorandum and not due to any internal incidents of identity theft.

The first reading passed unanimously and is expected to come before the commission for a second reading at the next regular meeting, Oct. 27. Should the amendment pass its second reading, it will become law.

A full copy of the proposed amendment is available from the Pikeville City Clerk’s Office.