Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 Source: Kilgore News Herald (TX) Copyright: 2014 The Kilgore News Herald Contact: http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3043 Author: James Draper KPD BOLSTERS ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS WITH FUNDS SEIZED FROM DEALERS The funds Kilgore police officers seize from local drug dealers eventually make it back to the community, reinvested in efforts to fight the drug trade here. It turns criminals' illicit activities against them, Kilgore Police Chief Todd Hunter says, here and elsewhere. "We're not in this for the money. It doesn't cover our cost of being involved as a task force participant," Hunter explained. "We're involved to impact the drug trade. One of the reasons you want to seize these funds is all about disruption of the drug organization. One of the ways we can disrupt them is remove the funds they have to operate. "Just like any organization, if you remove their funds you cripple them." State law and federal guidelines establish procedures for seizing criminals' ill-gotten gains, turning them over to the appropriate agency and awaiting a return. It's not dollar for dollar, but Kilgore does share in proceeds from efforts outside KPD's jurisdiction. A portion of seizures regulated by the state goes to the Gregg County District's Attorney's Office, for example, while activities under the federal statutes send a cut of the money outside of the area it was seized and, ultimately, forfeited by the suspects. However, through joint operations and equitable sharing, KPD benefits from other departments' actions. "We seize proceeds which can be money or tangible property if we believe the proceeds were used or gained in the commission of certain felony drug offenses," Hunter said. "When we seize it, it's in a seizure account. When it's awarded to us, it then goes into a forfeited account. Those forfeiture funds are then utilized to continue our investigation toward curtailing the illicit drug trade in the Kilgore area." There is a flat-screen television in the lobby of KPD that was seized, forfeited and recommissioned for use as a public information terminal. The department's Community Patrol Cruiser, purchased for $9,000 in fall 2013, was covered by drug funds and is being rolled out - at Kilgore schools, events and, ultimately, the new trail system - to monitor and combat drug activity while also being used in anti-drug education. While there are other felony offenses under the law that can result in seizure of tangible property, the vast majority of Kilgore's stems from drug activity. "Typically, 99.9 percent of the things that we seize are connected with the illicit drug trade," Hunter added. "We're targeting dealers. This is another way we can disrupt their business - by taking their assets so they can't continue to use those assets to further their endeavors." As explained by Gregg County District Attorney Carl Dorrough, the seizure/forfeiture process is a complicated one, but it does convert contraband - real property, personal property, tangible or intangible, to positive uses. "Basically, what the (state) statute says is when law enforcement conducts a seizure they file those with this office and then we have a 30-day window from the date of the seizure to decide whether or not we're going to proceed with the forfeiture action," he said. "It is a civil case not a criminal case. Basically, it's just a lawsuit." To a certain extent, Dorrough added, all law enforcement agencies execute seizures through a mix of federal and state procedures. In the past three years, he said, Gregg County has handled 34 such cases - primarily drug-related - of varying values. His office retains 20 percent of the forfeited amount. "This office can use it to maintain, repair, use or operate property for official purposes, prevention of drug abuse, pay overtime to law enforcement officers, training, law enforcement equipment or supplies . that kind of thing. Primarily we've used it for equipment and training for officers." In terms of sharing the seizures, KPD has a task force officer assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency out of Tyler and, consequently, maintains an equitable sharing agreement with the DEA and the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program. "There's six task force agents that are combined with the federal law enforcement officers at the DEA office in Tyler ... Our task force has been in operation for many years, well before I got here. It started in the '80s and really helps to supplement the manpower, the drug enforcement agents in Tyler," Hunter explained. The group "allows us to share in those forfeited funds or tangible property, if we need to use any of that tangible property. We have to show what we used it on, how much was brought in and everything else. That's submitted to the Department of Justice." Last year, the department did not pursue any property seizure under the state's Chapter 59 Code of Criminal Procedures, primarily utilizing the federal process. Granted, departments' investment in such pursuits goes beyond frontline enforcement - seized property must be maintained until it is forfeited, returned in the "same condition" if necessary. "We'll take the amount that we receive from every forfeiture and it goes into a seized account. When the U.S. attorneys inform us that we have received those items or have been forfeited those items, they're moved into a forfeiture account," Hunter explained, and can then be directed to specific, approved uses. In select instances, the monies could fund renovations to KPD facilities. They could be transferred to other law enforcement agencies. They can also be invested in equipment that could save an officer's live in the midst of a drug raid - in addition to the community cruiser, in 2013 KPD purchased a $2,600 Spartan Level III ballistic shield. Deployed in less than five seconds, the protective barrier was partly-funded with $1,000 donated by a Longview company. "As a department we try to provide the best equipment out there for our police officers concerning safety," Lt. Tony Stone said. "Of course, our end result if we have to encounter a situation is that our police officers go home to their families. Therefore, we will purchase the best we can afford to make that happen. For the purchase, "$1,000 was donated by Enbridge, which is an energy company concerning pipeline system. The rest of the funds were taken out of our seized funds account to purchase the ballistic rifle-rated shield." Other uses in Kilgore include funding drug-prevention literature to be distributed to children, teens and others. There's no real average for the annual amount of seized funds, Hunter said. "Those numbers, they vary widely just based on the amount of arrests and the persons we come in contact with: the DEA can seize a jet and we're going to get great numbers off of that, but the next year we're not going to get a jet." As with the cruiser and shield, the funds can only be used for purchases above and beyond the annual expenses of the department, Hunter noted - they cannot be used to supplement the city's budget. However, "By doing what we do, we're lowering our footprint on purchasing items through this process that we might not be able to purchase otherwise. The good thing is, these are not costing taxpayers any money," he said, but they are providing additional tools: "Anything to combat the illicit drug trade." - --- MAP posted-by: Matt