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Stealing important papers from the trash ranks in the top five means of identity theft in Montgomery County along with pilfering mail, computer hacking, point of sale theft and credit card cloning, said David Baker, a crime prevention specialist with the county police fraud division.

Police are encouraging residents to gather up to five small boxes or paper bags of documents to shred at locations in Bethesda, Germantown and Silver Spring during America Recycles Day this weekend. Residents can also donate used clothing and household items.

"It's incredibly important that you shred old documents," Baker said. "Not just old papers with birth dates and all on them, but mailing labels on magazines, too because people have been known to use those to get credit cards in people's names and so on."

County police investigated 2,030 identity theft cases in 2008 and 1,164 cases through July, said spokeswoman Officer Melanie Brenner. The cases include identity thefts from hackers, people going through trash and breaking into vehicles and stealing insurance and registration cards, Baker said.

A lot of identity theft cases get closed, Baker said, "but we see the same people over and over again." There has been a slight decrease in the number of cases, he said.

"Even if someone throws old important documents into a trash bag, you run a risk of having your identity stolen," said County Recycling Coordinator Alan Pultyniewicz.

The potential for identity theft can increase during the holiday season, Baker said. Police are investigating an identity theft case where the victim's checks were counterfeited and the suspect has been spending money from the victim's account by using fake checks. Criminals are not only looking through trash and hacking into computers, but also using holiday cheer to distract.

"Now, people will come up to you in a store while you're making a purchase, say hello and take a picture of your credit card and use the numbers with 10 minutes to make a purchase online," Baker said. "A lot of the people who are arrested for identity theft are usually the same people and then you get a couple more in the loop around Christmas."

Hundreds of people packed the parking lot at the Upcounty Regional Services Center last year to give away gently used clothes and shred documents, said Nona Watson, community development manager at the center. The Arc of Montgomery County Thrift Store, the Lupus Foundation of America, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Children's Center Inc. will sell or donate the clothes and other items they collect, Pultyniewicz said.

"We know people have been going through issues with identity theft because someone took old bills, pay stubs or whatever, for years," Watson said. "This is a way we can help them get rid of some of those old pieces of paper they have just laying around."

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, take papers to be shredded and clothes to be reused to the Upcounty Regional Services Center, 12900 Middlebrook Road in Germantown, or the Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center, 3300 Briggs Chaney Road in Silver Spring. From 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday, take items to John F. Kennedy High School, 1901 Randolph Road in Glenmont, or 1-5 p.m. at Walt Whitman High School, 7100 Whittier Boulevard in Bethesda. For more information, visit www

.montgomerycountymd.

gov/recycling or call 240-777-6410.