2007 ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE LAPORTE COUNTY

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

       In 2007, the LaPorte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was staffed by one full-time Prosecuting Attorney, one full-time Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, three state-paid Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys, eleven county-paid Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys, three Adult Protective Service Investigators, one APS Coordinator, three Victim Advocates, one Bad Check administrator, one Infraction Deferral administrator, three Trial Support staff members, eleven Child Support staff members, one Receptionist/Data Entry Clerk and one Financial Assistant.

            Source of funding for employee wages for the department is as follows:

            In 2007, for the ninth consecutive year, the office continued its conscientious effort to monitor spending, and at year end returned $117,596 budgeted to the Prosecutor’s Office for fiscal year 2007 to the county general fund from the departments’ various operating budgets and the departments’ various salary accounts, as shown below.

 
 
 
 

The LaPorte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office operating budgets, excluding salaries,  have remained the same throughout all nine years of the present administration with no requested increases in the various operating budgets of the department and with decreases requested by the County Council fully accepted.  All office financial requirements beyond that provided by the operating budgets are covered by funding generated within the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, federal grants and state contracts. 

            The LaPorte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office again shared its financial resources generated by the Prosecutor’s Office with local law enforcement and other county agencies in the amount of $51,859.  The following items are some of the purchases made during 2007.

            In addition to these expenditures, we budgeted $260,000 for three entities -

LaPorte County Parks Department

Michigan City Zoo

LaPorte County Fair Board. 

            Of these funds:

         

            The following chart shows the total expenditures for the Prosecutor’s Office, not including salaries.

            In 2007 the LaPorte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office continued to receive one grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.  Our Victim Services Grant amount remained the same upon renewal, which amount paid for two employees’ salaries and most of the employee benefits for our Victim Advocate staff.

In 2007, the LaPorte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office sponsored training for staff

 members and law enforcement agencies.  Total training costs were $21,549.

Staff Training Topics Included:

Law Enforcement Topics Included:

LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department - Accident Reconstruction at Northwestern University, Chicago

LaPorte Police Department - Public Agency Training Council Fingerprint Certification, Indianapolis

PROSECUTION AND COURT STATISTICS

            The following chart shows the number of criminal cases filed in LaPorte County over the past

years, including 2007.

The following chart shows the Felony charges filed during 2007. 

The following chart shows the Juvenile cases filed in LaPorte County over the past years and in 2007.

DIVISIONS OF THE

PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS OFFICE

ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES

  Adult Protective Services (APS), is a state mandated program that was developed for the purpose of investigating allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of endangered adults.  APS serves adults who are physically and/or mentally incapacitated to the extent that they cannot provide self care or direct their own care.

  La Porte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office serves as the hub county for APS, Unit 1A.  This APS unit investigates allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation in a six county area including La Porte, Porter, Starke, Pulaski, Jasper, and Newton Counties.  The unit consisted of three full-time investigators and a program coordinator in 2007.  The APS unit investigated 1,383 allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation in 2007.  526 allegations were investigated in La Porte County alone.  This is an increase of 21% unit wide in the number of allegations investigated.  La Porte County saw an increase of 57%.

  The dramatic increase in the number of cases investigated in La Porte County is a direct result of the additional investigator hired in January of 2007.  Indiana Family and Social Service Administration (FSSA), announced in 2006, that each APS unit in the state would be receiving additional funding for 2007.  The additional funds were used to hire an APS Investigator to concentrate on cases solely in La Porte County.

  APS continued to participate in training with law enforcement agencies regarding their involvement and investigation with cases involving endangered adults.  Much progress was made during 2007 in regards to collaborative investigations with law enforcement.  APS concentrated a majority of law enforcement training time with the Michigan City Police Department (MCPD).  Great results were noted with the increased number of appropriate referrals from MCPD.

  APS Investigators continued to be involved with domestic violence task forces in the six county area.  Investigators were also committed to the La Porte, Porter, and Starke County TRIAD chapters.  TRIAD is a commitment shared by law enforcement, seniors, and social service organizations to address crime prevention, education programs, and safety issues for seniors.

  APS Investigators continue to sit on the board of directors for the La Porte County Chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and the Northwest Indiana Adult Guardianship Services (NIAGS).   Both organizations provide valuable services to endangered adults.

  APS received referrals from hospitals, home health agencies, law enforcement agencies, area agencies on aging, nursing homes, group homes, mental health providers, numerous other agencies, and the general public throughout 2007.  APS remained focused on safeguarding endangered adults while providing the least restrictive form of intervention.

BAD CHECK DIVISION

            The Bad Check Program which assists in collecting amounts due from insufficient funds checks and account closed checks continued to expand and perform collection services to the recipients of bad checks in 2007.   The Bad Check Division collected  $208,027.00 in restitution for citizens who received Non-sufficient Funds and Account Closed checks in year 2007.

          It is important to note that the following figures represented in the graphs do not reflect all restitution paid through the Clerk’s Office on cases which resulted in criminal charges being filed, or any cases which may still be pending in the court system, and thus actual collections exceeded those reported.        

          The Bad Check Division continued,  in conjunction with the LaPorte County Clerk’s Office, refinement of the system regarding the distribution of restitution on criminal bad check cases filed with the courts.  The system allows all restitution secured through court action to be released to the Bad Check Program for distribution to the recipient business.   This is a very positive step which allows the program to reimburse monies in a more timely fashion and also allows better record keeping to identify cases where restitution is paid and cases where restitution is still owed.

  From 1990 - 2007 the Bad Check Program has collected $2,608,901.00 in restitution on bad checks for businesses and individuals.  Further, the distribution of the fees charged by the program to the LaPorte County General Fund from 1991 - 2007 totals $330,931.00.

  In 2007, the Bad Check Division handled 944 cases.  A break down of those cases follows: 416 (44%) of the cases handled were paid and satisfied; 437 (47%) of the cases had criminal summons or warrants  issued and were handled by the court system; 79 (8%) of the cases were handled civilly; and 12 (1%) of the cases could not be processed due to improper addresses.

  The chart below shows the total monies collected on behalf of businesses, and the fees that have been returned to the County General Fund.

      This chart shows the number of cases handled by the Bad Check Division historically and during 2007.

CHILD SUPPORT DIVISION

            The Child Support Division IV-D Office establishes paternity and collects support for children who reside in LaPorte County or whose parent(s) live in LaPorte County.  The division is governed by Federal and State laws and regulations.  The State reimburses each County Child Support Division a percentage of its expenses, plus a formula-based “incentive” amount determined by the collections of reimbursable welfare assistance costs.  New inner office policy established in 1999-2000 coupled with new legislation and regulations from 2001 now limit expenditure of Child Support Incentive Funds to the exclusive benefit of the Child Support Division.

            Year 2007 collections of child support in TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cases where public assistance has been received) and NON-TANF cases (where no public assistance has been received) totaled a record $9,344,127.00.  This amount represents a more than 100% increase in total child support collections, during the current administration, from 1999 through 2007.  The current caseload handled by the division is approximately 9,000 cases.  As stated by Prosecutor Beckman, achieving his established four year goal for the IV-D program of increasing 1998's $4.4 million collection to $7.1 million collected in support payments by 2002, increasing 2002 collections by an additional $700,000.00 in 2003, and further increasing 2004 collections over 2003 by an additional one-half million dollars is an extraordinary accomplishment by a dedicated staff.  In years 2005, 2006 and 2007, the IV-D office has again increased collections over each prior year.

            These record increases were accomplished without any increase in funding to the division and with the same number of employees.  In addition, it was announced in April of 2004 that Indiana children receive more child support for every dollar spent on administrative costs designed to operate Indiana’s child support program than any other of the 50 states in the Nation, collecting $7.80 for every dollar spent on enforcement.  A representative portion of this noted achievement is directly related to the exemplary performance of the LaPorte County IV-D Child Support Division.

Enforcement Measures:

            The Child Support Program’s arsenal of tools available to enforce child support obligations now include: computer automation of its operations (including interfaces with numerous other computer

systems and data bases as well as other state agency systems), financial institution data cross-matching (locating of bank assets), credit bureau reporting, cross matching new hire reporting (New Hire Registry), automated income withholding orders, income withholding liens on property and financial institutions, federal loan data matching, interception of income tax refunds (state and federal), interception of unemployment compensation benefits, interception of lottery winnings, driver’s and professional license suspension, license to sell insurance suspension, hunting and fishing license suspension, passport revocation or denial, court ordered classes and appointments scheduled with fatherhood programs, jail time pursuant to a court finding of Contempt, and prosecution for felony criminal non-support.  Location sources include: custodial parent, Federal and State Parent Locator Services, U.S. Postal Service, State employment security agency, Department of Motor Vehicles, and credit bureaus.

Programs for Fathers and Visitation:

            We continue to work with various fatherhood programs, including Harmony House and Family Focus, referring appropriate participants to these programs with the goal of strengthening the role that fathers play in the lives of their children by improving fathers’ parenting skills and accessibility to support services, providing a safe haven for supervised visitation, increasing fathers’ positive involvement with their children, providing access to a co-parenting mediator, and helping fathers and mothers cooperate in parenting for the sake of their children, thereby increasing establishment of paternity and payment of child support.

Criminal Enforcement:

            The Child Support Division continued its efforts which were begun in 2000 with the filing of additional Felony Criminal Non-Support cases as a last resort in cases when all civil remedies have been exhausted and the support arrearage exceeds $15,000.00.  In calendar year 2007, the Child Support Division filed 5 new C-Felony cases and obtained 2 D-Felony convictions resulting in the collection of over $17,500.00 in child support payments on these cases alone.  Since the year 2000, the Child Support Division’s efforts have resulted in a total of 28 C-Felony filings, 15 D-Felony convictions and just under $100,000.00 in child support payments received as a direct result of their efforts.

Child Support Incentive Funds:

            The following chart shows the Incentive Funds returned to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office IV-D Child Support Division over the past years, including funds received in 2007.  Until 2006, Incentive Funds were divided into thirds and distributed to the General Fund, the LaPorte County Clerk’s Office and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.  2006 was the first year in which, due to statutory change, the incentive payment was distributed 33.4% to the prosecuting attorney’s budget, 22.2% to the clerk’s budget and 22.2% to the county general fund, with the State retaining the remaining 22.2% of the incentive payment.              

            In order to receive incentive funds from the federal government, a state must meet minimum performance thresholds in five performance measures: order establishment, paternity establishment, current support collections, cases paying on arrears, and cost effectiveness.  The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) evaluates every state’s performance in those five areas yearly, and incentive payments increase with improved performance percentages.  According to the FFY2002 Title IV-D incentive reconciliation received by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), Indiana’s improved performance resulted in a 77% increase in incentive funding to the state.  When incentives are distributed to the counties, the same performance-based standards are used.  In addition, LaPorte County helped the State of Indiana reach its 84% paternity establishment goal for 2006 ahead of schedule.  This year, Indiana has again received incentives for all five measures for the third time in our history.

            Child Support Incentive Funds are now distributed annually for the previous year.  The 33.4% of the LaPorte County Prosecutor’s incentive funds for federal fiscal year 2006 was $47,860.00.  The LaPorte County General Fund received $31,812.00, and the LaPorte County Clerk’s Office likewise received $31,812.00.  The State Child Support Bureau retained $31,812.00.

Indiana Support Enforcement Tracking System (ISETS) Data Reliability:

            As a result of the federal audit conducted during the year 2000 in regard to the integrity of data contained in the Indiana Support Enforcement Tracking System (ISETS), and in preparation for the 2002 audit, the state Child Support Bureau directed a review of the accuracy of updated case activity and court order information within the ISETS database.  The massive project included review and clean-up of existing case files, purging of inappropriate case referrals, and removal of cases created in error dating back to the 1994/1995 conversion to ISETS.  In addition, the federally mandated 90% accuracy standard which each state must meet for the reliability of child support data, which is also utilized in determining future incentive funding, was raised by the federal government to a required 95% accuracy for the year 2002.

            Results received in January of 2004 from the Deputy Director of the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration, Division of Family and Children, Child Support Bureau in Indianapolis indicated that the LaPorte County IV-D Child Support Division achieved 100% Data Reliability for those cases which were targeted.  Completion of this project has had a positive long-term impact on Indiana’s child support program, contributed to increased enforcement, facilitated the implementation of system changes and procedures for the ongoing maintenance of data integrity, and resulted in programming changes to the ISETS system that prevents inappropriate system referrals.

            On October 10, 2006 the new Employer Maintenance Unit (EMU) supervised and managed by the state Child Support Bureau, began operations.  EMU now has the sole responsibility of researching and updating all employer records in ISETS, as well as performing ongoing employer data clean-up by determining the correct addresses for Income Withholding Orders (IWO’s), verifying federal identification numbers (FEINs or SSNs), and adding “Doing Business As” information, in order to improve search capability.  County workers’ update access is now disabled such that they can only view the employer data, and they can only add or modify the information in the participant’s employment record.  Theoretically, EMU’s work will result in a more accurate employer database, improving the accuracy of IWO’s and thereby increasing collections.  The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has determined that the State of Indiana is one of the top two states in the Nation for processing the most income withholding child support payments electronically.

Additional:

            LaPorte County is now a satellite hub for training sessions.  The Northwest Region Training Center is located within the office of the LaPorte County Division of Family & Children, 1551 S. Woodland, Michigan City, and was first put to use in December, 2003, when all caseworkers were required to attend IRS/Confidentiality Training regarding tax information security guidelines for Federal, State and local agencies.

            Indiana now provides online access to electronic fund transfers of child support payments by employers, allowing employers to transfer payments directly into the state’s distribution system.  In addition, many custodial parents are now receiving their child support payments from the Child Support Bureau through electronic transfer.

            As part of an FSSA run federal grant for a 2004 pilot project on electronic distribution of child support funds, a number of custodial parents not in possession of a bank account into which their child support may be directly deposited were provided a Hoosier Works MasterCard CDA (Commercial Debit Account) card, with which purchases could be made as well as cash withdrawals.  This card was replaced in August, 2007 by the new Indiana Visa Debit Card.  It is anticipated that all payments posted    at the State will be sent to LaPorte County custodial parents electronically, either by direct deposit or by

debit card, beginning at some point during 2008, following notification to all non-custodial parents who currently pay to their county Clerk to start sending payments to the Indiana State Central Collection Unit (established during 2007) instead.

            In January of 2005, Governor Daniels signed executive orders to establish the Department of Child Services, moving Child Protection Services, foster care, adoption, independent living, and the Child Support Bureau from the Family and Social Services Administration.  Following approval of the bill, the DCS commenced as an official agency starting July 1, 2005.

            Pursuant to legislation, the State has been given authority to collect and retain directly from Non-Custodial parents paying by Income Withholding Order the annual support and maintenance fee (also known as the “docket fee”), as well as the power to issue an IWO to the employer if the NCP fails to pay the fee.

INFRACTION DEFERRAL PROGRAM

            During the year 2007,  the number of participants in the Infraction Deferral Program remained about the same as the previous year.   Improvement in providing program information and accessability to those participating in the program are goals each year.  Infraction Deferral information cards are provided to Police Departments to hand out with tickets, making the public aware of  their option to participate in the program when receiving a moving violation.  Email inquires about the Infraction Deferral Program have increased and we responded by providing agreements by email.

            In 2007, the total number of participants for the Infraction Deferral Program was 1,972.  Ticket Incentive available for the Police departments was $39,440.00.   The program benefits the police departments by returning a portion of the fees to them.   The Police departments may utilize the funds for training programs.

            The following chart illustrates the ticket incentive money returned to the police departments to use at their discretion.

The next chart shows the number of participants in each court since the inception of the program.

VICTIM  ADVOCATE DIVISION

            The Victim Advocate Program is the only one of its kind that functions within the criminal legal system.  Victim advocates work closely with law enforcement, prosecution, probation, clerks, courts, and community agencies to best inform and educate victims.  Advocates provide services to individuals who have been victimized due to various crimes such as domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, burglary, and alcohol related where injury or property damage has occurred.

            Advocates have access to information that will assist victims of crime with case status, court dates, court ordered restitution, Violent Crime Compensation Fund procedures, orders of protection, and options with referrals to other community and statewide resources.  Continuing education for the advocates include their attendance at conferences and seminars to receive updates on various topics, and to develop skills to offer appropriate support and crisis counseling when victimization occurs.

            The Victim Advocate Division has three advocates each based within the three major law enforcement jurisdictions and located at the Superior Courthouse in Michigan City, LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department, and the LaPorte City Police Department.  The communities of  Michigan City, Trail Creek, and Long Beach receive services from the advocate located at the Michigan City courthouse.  Service areas provided by the advocate located in the Sheriff’s Department include Rolling Prairie, Kingsford Heights, Westville, and Purdue North Central.  LaPorte City residents receive services from the advocate assigned to the LaPorte City Police Department.