Possibly, but doubtful.
A first year phd student likely isn’t already thinking of dissertation as they have to get through coursework and comprehensive exams go get though . Even if a student comes in with an idea- most faculty assume these ideas will change over time, education, conversation, and also what faculty are interested in/experts in studying. A first semester, first term PhD student is such a newbie they don’t even register.
It’s so common for new PHD students to think they have a theory or this paradigm shift that they can solve crime- but the end of the day, that would be so so so rare it’s not even worth attempting to talk about. They would be the hero of the field. There’s rarely a new theory that lasts or isn’t just an existing theory reframed.
Also, for what it’s worth, the survey he did as a Masters student was trash and wouldn’t never have been approved or earned a PHD if that were his dissertation research- it would have been TORN apart. For a masters student the standard is much lower, but as a PHD student, those measures and construction would have been peer reviewed horribly.