Identity protection

MOSES LAKE — A lot of folks got rid of some old documents over the weekend.

A number of community members turned out Saturday for a Community Shred Day, held at Wheatland Bank.

At the event, United Data Security Owner Paul Gauron and driver Matt Wilson directed cars to pull up near their shredder truck, a Pulverizer No. 2, and took out boxes or bags of old documents.

"We try to be full service," Wilson said.

The documents were loaded into a garbage can, which was lifted via conveyor belt, and dumped into the pulverizer.

"This is our brand-new truck," Gauron said. "It's a state of the art shredding truck. It has a Mercedes-Benz diesel motor in it. It provides the smallest shred size in the industry."

The system grinds the paper up into the size of a dime, Gauron said, to the point it can pass through a screen to the back of the truck. Even FBI software cannot put the shredding back together again, he said.

The truck holds 12,000 pounds of shredded paper, and included a 20-inch flat screen monitor so people could watch their documents enter the shredder.

"It is just an incredible truck," Gauron said, placing the cost at $250,000.

"We try to support all local free shredding events to protect the citizens," he continued. "Most of our clients are businesses, and we can protect businesses very well, but oftentimes citizens don't know where to go, what to do. They find themselves at home with noisy shredders, they get lazy, they don't want to do it, so they compromise the security of their family by putting stuff in the garbage."

Identity theft is the fastest growing form of crime in the United States, Gauron noted.

Wilson said the hope was to fill the truck, and estimated the truck had already reached 1,000 pounds within the first half-hour.

"The actual people, they love the service," he said. "They're incredibly ecstatic with this kind of service and usually the first thing out of their mouth is, 'When are you coming again?'"

Moses Lake resident Nancy Volke turned in documents she's packed away since her husband died 13 years ago.

"I thought, I've got to get rid of some of this stuff because I don't need it and I've got a little shredder," she said. "I'd spend all day and probably burn the thing up."

Volke said the event is good for "people like me that hang on to stuff."

Resident Jake Watterson said he has a shredder at home, but had a lot of records and check stubs from his employer before he retired several years ago.

"I was going to take it out to my shed and do it, but then I read this in the paper and thought, 'Hey,'" he said.

"You feel safer having them shred it than you do at home," said Moses Lake resident Diane Albee. "You can have a whole bunch and it's done in seconds."

Albee said she turned in bank papers, things with her son's Social Security number, income taxes, bank statements and the like.

"I saved it from 1998," she said. "I kept it in a big plastic bag."

Albee would like to see similar events held periodically in all major towns.

"I think it should be something they should do," she said.

Wheatland Bank Branch Manager Chris Nelson said the event drew roughly 97 people and shredded about 5,000 pounds of paper.