Our government is meant to be representative of the people it serves. And yet, the increasing complexity of government seems to make it far removed from the citizenry.
In my effort to make the Office of the Attorney General more accessible to the people of Indiana, I created a specific section to focus on bringing the services of the office directly into their communities where they live.
The outreach section of my office was created in my first year as attorney general. It began with a grant that brought 13 VISA volunteers to create a network throughout the 92 counties that make up our state.
Under the direction of Michelle Mayer, who had previously worked with me in the state office of Sen. Dan Quayle, these young, recent college graduates developed a system to deliver consumer education as a proactive means of fulfilling our role of protecting consumers from an ever increasing amount of fraud from scammers.
Since its inception in 2009 the outreach office has developed into a fully operational means of bringing the services of the Office of the Attorney General directly to the people of our state by going into the communities where they live. By traveling the state and presenting informational programs to groups, we have brought greater access to the services we provide.
Our outreach programs have given us opportunities to partner with community service providers, businesses, government agencies, service clubs, churches, civic organizations and individuals to plan and facilitate more than 4,200 events reaching more than 230,000 Hoosiers directly.
In addition to these outreach opportunities, we have worked directly with victims to help them recover from scams. Although we generally are not able to recover lost funds for those who have fallen prey, we do have many success stories where we have been able to make a difference in stopping someone from sending more money and on occasion worked with other law enforcement offices to intercept and secure several victims’ funds.
Just recently, one of our outreach services specialists worked directly with a victim of a sweetheart scam, who, without our assistance, would have likely continued to send thousands of dollars each month to an imposter she had met online.
The outreach section is now an essential aspect of delivering services in our consumer protection efforts. It also makes the office more representative of the people we serve since information is received as well as delivered. Knowing what people need from their government requires going out and asking them.
That sounds simple but in a state as large as Indiana with more than 6.5 million people it requires an organized effort. For my own part I have traveled over 250,000 miles throughout the state. As I conclude my second term of office I leave to the next attorney general a toolbox of consumer protection services and the essential means by which these tools can be brought to the people of Indiana.
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To schedule a program through the outreach division of the Office of the Indiana Attorney General, send an email to [email protected].
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