Sorry to hear about your victimization by felonious miscreants. Your "vent" reminds me of the old saw about what the definition of a conservative is. That would be a liberal that was mugged the night before. I have not intended to make light of your encounter with crime, but to keep the topic police at bay, I've injected a political component.

I had a liberal neighbor once and enjoyed backyard lawn mowing breaks debating politics with him. He was into the whole liberal agenda and a true believer. One day he called me because his bicycle was stolen at the train station. He was a financial executive in New York and a daily train commuter. After I told him to report it to the police, I saw him the following day. He was furious about the police not putting out APB's and staking out the railroad station. He showed me reward posters he had made and posted all over the RR station and the surrounding businesses. It included incentives for information that led to the arrest and conviction of the thieves. This from the man that defended criminals as the product of society and not their own actions. The same guy that wanted to empty our medieval prisons and integrate recidivists back into society now demanded the arrest, conviction and incarceration of a bicycle thief. A liberal that became a victim the night before suddenly was sounding like Archie Bunker.

Bear with me as I connect the dots on this seemingly unrelated excursion. I will try to bring it back on point. Having extensive first hand experience in administering and working court authorized wiretaps, I can attest that they are one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal against drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism. Nothing else comes close in effectiveness and results. Very simply, given this context, the bad guys absolutely need to communicate electronically at some point during the plotting or carrying out of their nefarious work. If I recall, in a previous post, you addressed wiretaps with a degree of disdain. Those who lost friends, neighbors and family members in my circle of friends living and/or working in the shadow of the towers, would take issue with you. One hot wiretap, authorized or not, may have prevented 9/11. Would you have traded an unauthorized wiretap that exposed the tragic 9/11 plot, in the name of privacy? Therein lies the rub. The raging, ongoing debate between security and privacy is classic with compelling arguments on both sides. While I personally align with security...I do understand the consequences of government abuse...especially with an administration that currently passes muster as a soft tyranny.

Sorry....not trying to hijack your thread...just giving it..."political" relativity. Hope all goes well with your efforts to mitigate possible identity issues. dklassen in on the mark with his advice.