Pubdate: Sat, 29 Mar 2008
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2008 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayobserver.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Andrew Barksdale
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

NO TAX DOLLARS PAID FOR NEW SHERIFF'S TRAINING CENTER

Cumberland County's $4.7 million sheriff's training center didn't cost
taxpayers one dime.

Almost all of the money came from cash, cars, houses and other
property seized in drug cases. The rest of the money -- about 5 percent
- -- came from proceeds of an obscure North Carolina tax on drugs and
moonshine, which often is slapped on people who are caught with
illegal stashes. Lawmen say the federal asset forfeiture program has
saved taxpayers money and weakened the illegal drug trade.

The federal government keeps 20percent of the assets after drug
defendants have their day in court, and it gives the rest to local law
enforcement agencies that worked the cases.

According to a Fayetteville Observer analysis of federal records, the
Cumberland County Sheriff's Office leads the way in collecting
forfeiture money among agencies in the 10 counties of the Cape Fear
region. Sheriff's offices and police departments in the region
collected almost $682,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006,
the most recent available data. Of that amount, 65percent went to the
Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. As of mid-2006, the law
enforcement agencies in the region had a combined $3.8 million of
forfeiture funds in reserve. The money can pay for overtime, training,
vehicles and equipment such as night-vision goggles. Cumberland County
had the largest reserve, with almost $2.5 million. Cumberland County's
20,000-square-foot facility with classrooms and an indoor shooting
range opened in April 2007, replacing a hodgepodge of trailers and
smaller buildings where deputies used to train. One March afternoon,
12 deputies getting their annual training spread out blue mats and
warmed up inside the center's vehicle bay. They circled around their
instructor, Sgt. Stacy Womer, who showed them what to do if someone
tried to take their firearms.

"Get off my weapon!" she said, hitting her pretend assailant. "Get
back, get back," she yelled, pointing her gun. "Get down on the
ground! Do it now! Do it now!" Lt. John Sawyer, who runs the sheriff's
training center, said the building is more convenient and
better-equipped to train deputies, who get 40 hours of annual
instruction. The state minimum is 24 hours a year. "We feel very
fortunate to be able to do that," he said. "Our narcotics and
interdiction teams are working very hard." One popular source for the
forfeiture money is Interstate95, known among law enforcement as an
East Coast drug-trafficking corridor. Until a car wreck a year ago
injured one officer, the Lumberton Police Department kept two officers
patrolling the interstate for speeders and drug dealers. "We are right
in the middle of a lot of money and drugs coming up and down the
interstate," Lumberton police Lt. Johnny Barnes said. The department
collected about $90,000 over the past two years in forfeiture money.
Lt. David Sportsman of the Fayetteville Police Department said only a
small section of the interstate -- Exit 49 with its cluster of hotels --
is in the city's jurisdiction.

"I think that's why the county gets so much, because they can stop a
truckload of stuff," Sportsman said.

Debbie Tanna, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office,
said she couldn't disclose how many deputies patrol I-95 or how much
time they devote to the interstate.

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office, which can patrol its entire
stretch of interstate, had $921,099 in asset-forfeiture reserves in
mid-2006. Sportsman said most of the drug arrests inside Fayetteville
come from tips and surveillance of problem areas inside the city.

Fayetteville police collected $38,724 in 2005-06 and had more than
three times that amount in reserve.

The Fayetteville Police Department built a $1 million training center
that opened in 1998. Forfeiture money paid for all of it, Sportsman
said. Cumberland County officials have taken a pay-as-you-go approach.
They want to equip an empty room at the new center with a firearms
video simulator for an estimated $140,000. The county plans to buy it
later this year after it accumulates enough drug proceeds.

The county may put up a fence around the center. That would cost
$40,000 to $75,000. Federal law The federal forfeiture law has been on
the books for years. Congress strengthened it in 1984 during President
Reagan's war on drugs. Drug forfeitures for the year ending Sept. 30,
2007, totaled $15.8 million for Cumberland and 43 other eastern North
Carolina counties, said Steve West, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the
Raleigh office. The local jurisdictions pocketed $11.2 million of that
amount. Local agencies have another funding source. They receive 75
percent of proceeds from the N.C. Department of Revenue's excise tax
on illegal drugs and moonshine when they make arrests.

People are required to pay state taxes on their drugs, but nobody ever
does, said Kim Brooks, spokeswoman for the state Revenue Department.
For instance, the state taxes $50 for each gram of cocaine, and that
tax is assessed only if the person has more than 7 grams of cocaine.

The taxpayer gets a stamp that serves as a receipt. If they are caught
with illegal drugs and no stamps, then the state can seize whatever
assets are available to recover the tax.

The money supplements a cash-starved police budget in Rowland, with
1,168 residents and an annual town budget of $1.3 million. The town is
on I-95, near South Carolina's South of the Border exit. Police Chief
Daniel Bradsher said most of the large forfeitures come from the
interstate. But with just five other officers, he can't patrol the
freeway often. Officers hit the interstate two to four times in a
typical month. Rowland police collected about $34,000 in forfeiture
funds last fiscal year and spent $54,511, Bradsher said. Some of that
money went toward overtime and Tasers.

"It certainly takes funds out of drug dealers' pockets and relieves
taxpayers from some of the expenses," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake