New York State - Division of Criminal Justice Services

Insurance FraudsInsurance frauds were varied: Five investigations involved vehicles beingreported as stolen in attempt to cover up the insured’s vehicle being involved in a motorvehicle accident.Another fraud investigation involved a vehicle being reported as stolen that waslater recovered burned. The investigation revealed that several days after purchasingthe vehicle, the insured found mechanical problems and difficulty obtaining a title.Additional fraud cases include the reported theft of a vehicle to hide the insured’sinvolvement in a shoplifting incident, a case where the insured filed a claim for accidentdamage for which he had already been paid for but did not have repaired, and thereported theft of a vehicle where the insured was having financial difficulties.Coordinated EffortsThe Rochester Police Department continues to work closely with other local lawenforcement agencies on motor vehicle related investigations. Each month membersattend a meeting hosted by the Monroe County DA's office. All local agencies areinvited regardless of their involvement with the Auto Theft Task Force. Recent trendsand active cases are discussed by the group. Suspected fraud referrals from insurancecompanies to the state Insurance Fraud Bureau are read and discussed. A secondmeeting of Task Force member agencies is held later in the month. Members haveattended 20 such meetings this year. Additionally, 15 intra-departmental command staffmeetings were attended by members of the Auto Theft Task Force in 2009 to discussmotor vehicle theft patterns and strategy implementation. Task Force members alsoattended two MVTIFP Board Statewide Advisory Group meetings this year.TrainingMembers continue to provide motor vehicle theft and vehicle identificationtraining to all police recruits attending the Monroe Community College Public SafetyTraining Facility. A total of 50 recruits from Rochester Police Department and theMonroe County Sheriff’s Office received the training in 2009.In 2010, the member assigned to the Auto Theft Task Force attended a DCJSsponsoredlatent fingerprint school to enable recovered vehicles to be processed forprints. Other training included four members attending the Northeast InternationalAssociation of Auto Theft Investigators training seminar in Buffalo, two membersattending the DCJS- LPR seminar in Batavia and one member attending the New YorkProsecutors Training Institute/New York Anti-Car Theft and Fraud Association training inBuffalo.NYS DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES MVTIFP BOARD / ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Page 73