Shredded police docs tossed as confetti at NYC parade
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - Suburban authorities are investigating how shredded police documents got tossed as confetti to spectators at last week's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
Manhattan attorney Saul Finkelstein says he and his college-age son, Ethan, noticed that some of the confetti included Social Security and license plate numbers. Some information appeared to have come from the Nassau County Police Department on New York's Long Island.
Finkelstein says he saw massive amounts of the confetti at 65th Street and Central Park West. He and his son only took about 30 pieces home with them. Detectives from Long Island picked up the material Sunday.
A department spokesman said Monday that an investigation is under way. It will include a review of procedures for disposing of sensitive documents.
Anyone with half a brain would have used a crosscut shredder instead of a strip cut shredder to shred those documents.
I would advise rethinking for anyone who laughs at security worries about tossed paper shreds.  Piecing shreds back together has been an intelligence gathering practice for many years. It is why the better shredders cross cut. There are companies out there who contract to dispose of the paper in such a way it positively goes to pulping and can not be recovered. Note they usually handle other media as well.  Â
There are different types of shredders. The ones that merely cut long strips is the cheapest version I can think of. Mine has a criss-cross cut, shredding itty bitty diamond shaped "confetti "no more than 1/4" in size. There's absolutely no way anyone could piece together anything in a legible format it is so microscopic.
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Shame on the NYPD for allowing long strips - which can carry vital pieces of info depending on the cut and it sounds like it did... all it takes is one. At least they COULD have shredded the papers VERTICALLY, in stead of horizontally. That would have been harder - though not impossible - to get complete vital numbers like SSN and vehicle license plates on the strips.
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 Shame on NYPD AGAIN for allowing it to be used as confetti. Looks like there might be an increase in ID theft in that region....Good heavens.
Ya mean shredding doesn't work? We should all just shred and burn it? And then stir the ashes?
Then mix it with cement and pour a foundation? Thanks for the heads up.
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Are we realy paying folks to sift through shredded paper and piece it back together?
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Never mind. Sorry I asked.
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Wtf.