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As technology continues to achieve stunning advancements, unfortunately the tools and tricks dishonest people can use to steal from our innocent friends, family and neighbors continue to improve as well.
That's why we are grateful for the proactive efforts of our county leadership -- including, most recently, Lycoming County Register and Recorder David Huffman.
As profiled in the Sun-Gazette a week ago, Huffman has taken the reins of an initiative to offer fraud alerts to county residents with sensitive information within the records of his office.
The new software is part of a larger initiative, a partnership with a private software company to make the office's public records more accessible to the public.
"Any way to help the property owner is what we want to do," Commissioner Scott Metzger, whose board of commissioners collaborated on the efforts, said.
"It gives people an additional sense of security in these modern times," Huffman said.
Sign-up for the fraud alerts can be found online at searchiqs.com/fraudalertCC=PALYC
The process allows property owners more information and more rapidly to guide their decision about whether to reach out to police or to an attorney -- and, as county officials acknowledged, timeliness can play a role in addressing incidents of fraud.
We anticipate that as new technologies are unveiled and existing technologies improved, the scope of security will continue to shift -- both in terms of tools the public have at their disposal and behaviors and precautions members of the public will have to take to safeguard their lives and property.
We thank our county register and recorder and county commissioners for recognizing this necessity and taking the appropriate steps to serve their constituents in their pursuit of personal security.