Seizures fuel millions in police spending

An analysis of federal data shows outlay for guns and armored cars – aswell as coffee makers and a clown.

washington » Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles.

The details are contained in thousands of annual reports dating from 2008 and submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department’s Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize.

The documents offer a sweeping look at how police departments and drug task forces benefit from laws that allow them to take cash and property without proving a crime has occurred. The law was meant to decimate drug organizations, but The Washington Post found that it

has been used as a routine source of funding for law enforcement.

“In tight budget periods, and even in times of budget surpluses, using asset forfeiture dollars topurchase equipment and training to stay current with the ever-changing trends in crime fighting helps serve andprotect the citizens,” said Prince George’s County, Md., police spokeswoman Julie Parker.

Brad Cates, a former director of asset forfeiture programs at the Justice Department, said the spending suggests police are using Equitable Sharing as “a free floating slush fund.”

Cates, who oversawthe program while at Justice from 1985 to 1989, said it enables police to sidestep the traditional budget process.

“All of this is fundamentally at odds with the U.S. Constitution,” said Cates, who recently co-wrote an opinion piece calling for the program’s abolition in The Washington Post. “All of this is at odds with the rights that Americans have.”

Of the nearly $2.5 billion in spending reported in the forms, 81 percent came from cash and property seizures in which no indictment was filed, according to an analysis. Owners must prove that their money or property was acquired legally to get it back.

The police purchases comprise a rich mix of the practical and the high-tech, including an array of gear that has helped some departments militarize their operations: Humvees, automatic weapons, gas grenades, night-vision scopes and sniper gear.

Many departments acquired electronic surveillance equipment, including automated license-plate readers and systems that track cellphones.

The spending also included a $5 million helicopter for Los Angeles police; a mobile command bus worth more than $1 million in Prince George’s County, Md.; an armored personnel carrier costing $227,000 in Douglasville, Ga., population 32,000; $5,300worth of “challenge coin” medallions in Brunswick County, N.C.; $4,600 for a Sheriff’s Award Banquet by the Dona Ana County (N.M.) Sheriff’s Office; and a $637 coffee maker for the Randall County Sheriff’sOffice inAmarillo, Texas.

Sparkles the Clown was hired for $225 by Chief Jeff Buck in Reminderville, Ohio, to improve community relations. Buck said the seizure money has been crucial to sustaining long-term investigations that have put thousands of drug traffickers in prison.

“The money I spent on Sparkles the Clown is a very, very minute portion of the forfeited money that I spend in fighting thewar on drugs,” he said.

About 5,400 departments and drug task forces have participated in the Equitable Sharing Program since 2008. Justice spokesman Peter Carr said the programis an effective weapon to fight crime but should not be considered “an alternative funding source for state and local law enforcement.”

“It removes the tools of crime from criminal organizations, depriveswrongdoers of the proceeds of their crimes, recovers property that may be used to compensate victims, and deters crime,” he said in a statement. “Any funds received through the equitable sharing programare meant to enhance and supplement, not supplant or replace an agency’s appropriated budget and resources.”

A local or state police agency can seize cash or property under federal law through the Equitable Sharing Program when a federal agency such as the U.S. Drug En- forcement Administration or Immigration and Customs Enforcement agrees to adopt the seizure under federal law.

In September, TheWashington Post reported that police across the country became more aggressive in their use of federal civil asset forfeiture laws after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Officials at Justice and the Department of Homeland Security encouraged a technique known as highway interdiction to help in the fight against drugs and terrorism.

There have been 61,998 cash seizures on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants or indictments and processed through the Equitable Sharing Program, according to the analysis of Justice data.

Equitable Sharing participants must follow rules contained in a 50-page Equitable Sharing guide that require the proceeds of seizures to be used “by law enforcement agencies for law enforcement purposes only.”

Permissible uses include overtime pay, training, building construction and improvements and equipment— everything from file cabinets and fitness gear to automatic weapons and surveillance systems. They also can use pro- ceeds to buy food and drink for conferences or disaster operations.

The Justice Department has about 15 employees assigned to overseeing compliance. Five employees review thousands of annual reports for discrepancies. Justice employees also use analytical tools to search for spending patterns. Several attorneys review all sharing requests for $1 million or more, Carr said, adding that the locals also do their own audits.

The inspector general’s office for the Justice Department has conducted 25 audits on spending since 2008, an average of four a year, examining more than $18 million in Equitable Sharing spending, roughly three-quarters of 1 percent of the money spent during that time. The JusticeDepartment has challenged millions of dollars in spending as unsupported or unallowable.

Auditors found theMesaCounty Sheriff’s Office in Colorado paid thousands for projectors, scanner equipment and other items that were not intended for lawenforcement. They also paid for 20 lawyers in the Mesa County prosecutor’s office to attend a conference at the Keystone ski resort. Auditors questionedmore than $78,000in spending. The Mesa Sheriff’s Office did not respond to calls for comment.