Pubdate: Fri, 22 Mar 2002
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Julia C. Martinez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

PUEBLO DA INSISTS FORFEITURE LAW NEEDED

Pueblo's district attorney said Thursday that his office can't afford to 
buy computers, cameras and other equipment without proceeds from property 
confiscated under Colorado's civil forfeiture law.

Gus Sandstrom Jr. said the law is working just fine, and he doesn't want 
the legislature to change it.

"We're desperate for dollars. We can't keep up with the crooks without the 
forfeitures," Sandstrom said. "We use the money to make up for the training 
the city and county can't pay for and to buy equipment.

We wouldn't have a digital camera without the forfeiture money."

Sen. Bill Thiebaut, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, 
announced legislation Thursday aimed at reforming Colorado's civil 
forfeiture law.

"Right now, state law allows the government to take your property just 
because it looks like you're doing something wrong," Mitchell said.

Victims Called Deserving

Thiebaut said he's strongly opposed to law enforcement prospering from 
property seizures. But as the law currently stands, most do. He said he was 
surprised to learn Sandstrom depends on forfeiture proceeds to furnish his 
office.

"Victims deserve to be compensated before buying computers for law 
enforcement's offices," Thiebaut said. House Bill 1404 has the bipartisan 
backing of 17 other lawmakers in the House and Senate and a broad coalition 
of groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Rifle 
Association.

The bill would require that, in most cases, the property owner be convicted 
of a crime before items are confiscated. It would make it easier for 
citizens to reclaim their property by requiring the government to show why 
it should be seized rather than forcing citizens to prove why it shouldn't.

Reporting Requirements

In addition, the legislation would toughen the requirement that law 
enforcement report cars, cash and other assets seized from citizens 
believed connected to a crime. A 1992 law sets out the reporting 
requirement, but most law enforcement agencies may be ignoring it.

It also would require that proceeds of confiscated assets be funneled to 
lien holders, such as banks, innocent family members and drug treatment 
programs, once law enforcement has been compensated.

According to a list released Thursday, the El Paso County sheriff's office 
reported $678,660 in cash and $1.3 million in "fixed assets" in its 
forfeiture funds.

Mitchell said current law "actually creates an incentive for police to take 
your property because they get to keep what they take."

He said the law also makes a mockery of a basic constitutional premise that 
citizens are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. "That's wrong, 
and we want to change it," Mitchell said.
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