Hazel Heckers

Hazel Heckers has served crime victims for more than 25 years. She is a leader in bringing issues of elder abuse, crimes against people with disabilities, and the special needs of raising grandchildren and other relatives as a result of crime to the forefront of the victims’ rights movement. 

Ms. Heckers was a vital member of the committee that worked to pass Colorado’s At-Risk Adult legislation, which defines crimes against elders and people with disabilities and provides guidelines for enforcing the law. She also assisted in writing and advocating for law enforcement protocols to respond to cases of caregiver abuse, and facilitated the state’s first Protocol for Response to At-Risk Adults. 

In 2012, Ms. Heckers founded the Identify Theft Advocacy Network of Colorado (ITAN), one of ten new, innovative, multidisciplinary groups around the country dedicated to serving victims of identity theft and fraud. ITAN is hosted by the Identity Theft and Fraud Unit of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where Ms. Heckers has worked for the last 3 years. In her role with CBI, Ms. Heckers assists victims of identity theft and creates and conducts identity theft-related training for law enforcement. 

Since joining CBI, Ms. Heckers has assisted more than 3,200 victims and conducted 200 identity theft-related trainings. She also has assisted with advocacy in response to more than 1,700 phone calls to the CBI Theft and Fraud Hotline. This hotline is unique in that it is the Nation’s only 24-hour hotline for victims of identity theft. 

Ms. Heckers is a nationwide source for expertise on all types of identity theft and is a valuable provider of support and guidance to other agencies and organizations around the country seeking to improve their ability to help this often underserved victim population.