Attorney General Mark Shurtleff spoke to the Spanish Fork-Salem Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday. Citing a philosophy of "Do your best, then do a little more", Shurtleff described programs that the State of Utah has implemented during his term in office.

Utah put in place a statewide Amber Alert system a month before Elizabeth Smart was abducted. Other states copied Utah's process and added improvements, some of which Utah later borrowed. Now it is possible to get amber alerts on personal communications devices if you request that service. Utah was the first state to offer this option. Because much of Utah is rural, some of the child safety services available in Salt Lake and Utah counties may not be available elsewhere. To ensure that rural departments have the same access to information, the state has put in place CARTs; Chile Abuse Response Teams who work with individual departments.

Utah has taken the lead in prosecuting white collar crimes, mortgage fraud, and identity theft. Although the state's efforts were not enough to prevent problems that accompanied the economic collapse last fall, they did reduce their effects in Utah. A specific assist for identity theft is available through www.idtheft.utah.gov.

Assistance in restoring credit is available through the Identity theft Reporting and Information System (IRIS). Victimized people should report their identity thefts to the FBI as well.

The state's efforts have resulted in a forty percent increase in arrests due to increased police work. Much of this work has been funded by a grant from the OK (Operation Kids) Foundation. The attorney general's office has posed the most education hours of any in the country. One site that Shurtleff specifically recommended is www.parentsinpower.org. This site focuses on reasons that youth should not drink alcohol and uses a variety of computer games to help make the point.

Shurtleff is a candidate for the US Senate against Senator Bob Bennett in this fall's election.