Stria for Business

Last year, more than 160-thousand people notified the Federal Trade Commission that they'd become victims of identity theft... making it one of the fastest growing crimes in the country. But it's not just individuals who are being impacted. Many local businesses are often victims too, according to the Local Police Department. Not long ago, BPD Crime Prevention Specialist Sandy Morris held a training seminar at the Chamber of Commerce office to give suggestions to area business owners to keep them from becoming identity theft victims.

"That's why we try to tell them pay attention to where you have sensitive information stored. Pay attention to what you throw away. Shred everything. Shredding is the name of the game."

But before a business can properly dispose of its paper documents... many have tried to scan them digitally instead. That's been time consuming and difficult.

So a local entrepreneur has stepped in to help.

Jim Damian has created Stria, based here in the Kern Technology Center.

He's set up for high speed document scanning so businesses from lawyers to doctors to banks can get rid of their miles of paper files.

"It's really all about having your documents secured in the event of natural or manmade disasters. And on a day to day basis you'll have a more efficient business model. People will save hundreds of business hours per week by scanning these documents and having them on-line."

Damian says the key to doing massive scannings is document preparation, which involves setting up barcodes for each page and box of documents, plus staple and paper clip removal and ensuring a good quality scans.

"It sounds simple, but we can take out paper clips and staples and fix ripped documents incredibly fast. We are experts in that. Not everybody can say they are experts in taking out staples, but our guys can."

Damian says he chose to move to Bakersfield when he formed the business a few months ago because it's near his Tehachapi home... and because it's centrally located.

"Geographically, we're in a perfect spot. We can have staff in Northern or Southern California within a few hours."

Stria also works with BARC in helping to destroy the documents once they've been scanned.

Damian says his company can serve individuals who want to get rid of old tax statements or large businesses.

Either way, he believes it will help prevent document and identity theft in the area.