This week the Indiana State Police Laboratory completed compilation of information for the Indiana Legislature about SB322, which was passed in the 2017 legislative session and became law on January 1, 2018.  The change in the law resulted in the expansion of samples that are entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).  Prior to January 1, 2018, only DNA samples of convicted felons were entered into CODIS.  With the change in the law any person arrested for an alleged felony offense has their DNA collected as part of the in-processing at a local county jail.  These DNA samples are then forwarded to the ISP Indianapolis Regional Laboratory for analysis and subsequent entry into the CODIS database.

Now, with three months of data available since the inclusion of DNA samples from arrested persons, along with samples from convicted persons, the ISP Laboratory Division has compiled information on matches, that are referred to as ‘hits’.

January-March 2018 CODIS Data:

Total Offender Samples Received, inclusive of both convicted offender and felony arrests: 12,705

• Convicted Offender Samples: 3,330

o   Nine of the 126 hits are case to case matches
§  Case to case means separate criminal investigations that may involve the same reporting police agency or different agencies
o   The other 117 of the 126 are new case profiles that match offenders previously entered in CODIS

o   Nine of the 126 hits are case to case matches
§  Case to case means separate criminal investigations that may involve the same reporting police agency or different agencies
o   The other 117 of the 126 are new case profiles that match offenders previously entered in CODIS

• Felony Arrest Samples: 9,375

o   Nine of the 126 hits are case to case matches
§  Case to case means separate criminal investigations that may involve the same reporting police agency or different agencies
o   The other 117 of the 126 are new case profiles that match offenders previously entered in CODIS

Total CODIS Hits: 244

• 46 hits attributed to the 3,330 new convicted offender samples collected Jan. 1 to March 31, 2018
• 72 hits attributed to the 9,375 felony arrest samples collected Jan. 1 to March 31
• 126 hits attributed to recently completed unsolved crime scene samples

o   Nine of the 126 hits are case to case matches
§  Case to case means separate criminal investigations that may involve the same reporting police agency or different agencies
o   The other 117 of the 126 are new case profiles that match offenders previously entered in CODIS

While the Indiana State Police is not able to share direct case information for other police agencies, we are able to share some general information from the first three months of 2018 data collection for CODIS:

• The first arrestee hit was on January 14, 2018 and matched to an unsolved rape investigation that began in 2016

• All County jails facilities are providing arrestee samples
• 44 different counties have been involved in hits in the first quarter of 2018
• CODIS has generated hits between Indiana and 23 other states during the first quarter of 2018

Maj. Steve Holland, commander of the Indiana State Police Laboratory Division commented, “We are very pleased with the results seen thus far and are confident more and more crimes will be solved with the combination of convicted and arrested persons samples being matched in the CODIS program.”  Holland continued, “None of this would have been possible without the enabling legislation, as well as the cooperation of all the county jail personnel who collect the DNA samples and the diligent efforts of state police laboratory scientists that are processing these samples for input into CODIS.”

With April 17 being Tax Day, some Hoosiers will discover they are victims of tax identity theft. This occurs when someone files a fraudulent tax return on another person’s behalf, resulting in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) potentially rejecting the return filed by the appropriate person.

A victim of this type of scam should:

1) Contact the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) via IndianaConsumer.com and file an ID theft complaint. Our office can help you navigate the next steps in the process.

2) File a police report documenting the identity theft.

3) Contact the IRS via identitytheft.gov.

4) Immediately request copies of your credit report from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Look them over immediately for any signs of suspicious activity. Place alerts or freezes on your reports if you suspect an identity theft problem.

As of last week, OAG has received 21 complaints in 2018 for this type of scam. The OAG received 165 such complaints in 2017 and 231 in 2016.

Another tax-related scam occurs when someone pretending to work for the IRS calls and threatens you with jail time, arrest or fines if you don’t pay your “tax debts.” Remember that no IRS agent will ever call and ask a taxpayer to place funds on gift cards or other prepaid cards to pay taxes and fees. Further, no legitimate U.S. Treasury or IRS official will demand that payments be made into another person’s account via Western Union, MoneyGram, bank wire transfers or bank deposits for any debt to the IRS or U.S. Treasury. To further protect yourself from these types of scams, do not answer unwanted calls; do not give out personal information over the phone; hang up on suspected IRS impostors and call the IRS at 1-800-366-4484 to determine whether the caller is an IRS employee with a legitimate need to contact you. Finally, report such incidents to the Federal Trade Commission and the Indiana Attorney General.