Day of the jackal again?

I'm not sure why all the fuss about this story of the police "stealing" the identities of 80 dead children to create false personas for undercover officers.  Insensitive perhaps, but you can't really steal the "identity" of someone who is dead.  Your identity, in any legal or administrative sense, ceases when you die.  And if you're setting up a false identity for someone, the last thing you want is for them to come face to face with the person whose identity they have assumed, so naturally you would choose someone who is dead - the longer ago the better.  So like I say, insensitive, but practical.