ID badges stolen from state offices - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Indianapolis - Indiana State Police are trying to track down a dozen employee ID cards reportedly stolen from the people who hand out government badges.

"Anybody just cannot have these cards," said Sgt. Ray Poole, Indiana State Police.

Inside state office buildings, where access is now limited, police believe after-hours theft occurred. Money and iPods were stolen from Homeland Security employees. At the Department of Administration, 12 unauthorized government badges for security are gone.

"We did an audit of access badges and found that a number had been taken out of sequence," said Brian Renner, Indiana Department of Administration deputy commissioner.

The discovery came after the agency terminated a temporary employee, who along with just one other employee worked in the State's Access Control office making badges that determine where state employees can freely go and where they are restricted.

The 12 missing badges have not been found.

"Our assumption is that they were...taken by the employee. And these were non-active generic badges that had no building access to them and had no photo ID's on them," said Renner.

An office manager at a Westaff office would not talk with us about the case. But he says all company employees must undergo a background check and meet state qualifications for a government placement.

Eyewitness News asked Renner why a temporary worker would be given that kind of responsibility for the State of Indiana.

"The responsibilities are very general clerical duties. The position doesn't have access to any type of sensitive personnel information," Renner said.

But the Deputy Commissioner confirms the Department is now looking to hire a permanent state employee for the position and is reviewing its security procedures.

The Department of Administration says based on its system, the cards were not activated. They say a lost badge that goes unreported is more serious because it is activated. The state says fakes could be used to bypass security checkpoints and that's a major concern.