Pubdate: Thursday, February 24, 2000 Source: New Haven Register (CT) Copyright: 2000, New Haven Register Contact: http://www.ctcentral.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?ctcentral+FrontPage Forum: http://www.ctcentral.com/ Author: Evan Goodenow, Register Staff 2 SIDES DEBATE SEIZURE LAWS NEW HAVEN-A family's home is seized because a child dealt a small amount of drugs out of it; a woman's car is taken because her husband picked up a prostitute in it; a doctor's office becomes the property of the government because of alleged Medicare fraud on the premises; minority motorists have cash seized because they fit a drug courier profile. Those cases were prosecuted under asset forfeiture laws, a practice law enforcement officials tout as a valuable tool but critics decry as "policing for profit." Speakers on both sides of the issue clashed Wednesday night at Yale in a debate sponsored by the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and The Yale Political Union. "We become forfeiture junkies," said former New Haven Police Chief Nick Pastore, who recalled a rise in motor vehicle seizures in the early 1990's. "We had a lot of detectives riding around in new cars that didn't belong to them." Noting a rise in unsolved homicides locally and nationally, Pastore questioned policing priorities. "Why are there no less than 32 murder cases pending in New Haven County? Shouldn't that be a priority?...I'd rather see us deal with crimes of violence and the like rather than be preoccupied with driving someone else's new car," Pastore said. By its nature, the seizure law, which targets inanimate objects rather than individuals, is rife for abuse, according to Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at Cato Institute. He concedes the seizures are a useful tool in the "war on drugs." "So are the thumbscrew, the rack and the police state," Pilon added. "It's not simply wrong in practice, it's wrong in principle." Abuses are rare, said David Sullivan, head of the state's U.S. Attorney's Office Forfeiture Division. "I could not sleep at night if I was taking some innocent person's personal property." Sullivan recalled prosecuting hundreds of cases while working with the Department of Justice in Washington. Seizures are rare in Connecticut, and small amounts of property are rarely targeted, said Mark Kaczynski, federal Drug Enforcement Agency resident agent in charge of Connecticut. Kaczynski said local police departments must follow strict guidelines. "Every year they're audited, and if they can't justify an expense, they're never getting anymore. You abuse it, you lose it, it's gone," Kaczynski said. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson