Pubdate: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 Source: Standard-Times (MA) Copyright: 1999 The Standard-Times Contact: 25 Elm Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 Website: http://www.s-t.com/ Forum: http://www.s-t.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro Author: Polly Saltonstall, Standard-Times staff writer DAs DIFFER IN SPENDING HABITS Editor's note: This is the first part of a two-day series on how the assets of drug traffickers are distributed and spent. Each year, when Plymouth County District Attorney Michael Sullivan knows how much money his office can expect to garner from the sale of seized drug assets, he sets aside about 20 percent and invites nonprofit groups to apply for those funds. An advisory group of leaders from local nonprofits, police officers, teachers, elected officials and social workers evaluates the grant applications and recommends selections to Mr. Sullivan. In neighboring Bristol County, District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. also awards grants to nonprofit groups, but he does not advertise the availability of the funds. Actually, he prefers not to, because he says his office staff does not have the time and is not trained to administer such a program. "You could say it's incumbent upon the fund-seekers to find out where the funds are," Mr. Walsh said. While state law sets general forfeiture spending parameters, the guidelines allow individual prosecutors broad discretion. While the district attorneys in Bristol and Plymouth counties spend the bulk of their drug forfeiture dollars on the same sort of items -- prosecution and investigation of drug trafficking -- their philosophies diverge in other areas, including community spending. Both district attorneys spend far more of their drug forfeiture funds on community programs than their colleagues across the state. Mr. Sullivan allocated about 23 percent of his drug forfeiture funds to community programs in 1997 and 1998, while Mr. Walsh spent about 12 percent of his drug money on such programs. The next highest district attorney's office was in Franklin and Hampshire counties, at 8 percent, according to a survey by The Standard-Times. Statewide, the nine district attorneys surveyed by the newspaper spent an average of 6 percent of their drug forfeiture accounts on community programs in 1997 and 1998. State law says district attorneys may spend up to 10 percent of money realized from the seizure of drug assets on "drug rehabilitation, drug education and other anti-drug or neighborhood crime watch programs which further law enforcement purposes." The law does not mandate this spending, nor does it specify the means of distributing the funds, which mean the district attorneys have fairly wide discretion in the use of the money. Mr. Walsh's office lists $34,529 in education, rehabilitation and prevention spending in 1998 from drug forfeiture funds. Of that, the bulk of the education portion was for training of personnel, according to records provided by Mr. Walsh. While he does not advertise the availability of the funds, he does establish criteria for awarding grants, including that the agencies be nonprofit and established. He said he is not interested in funding "fly-by-night" requests. "We evaluate it case by case," Mr. Walsh says. A review of the items classified by the office in 1998 as spending on education, rehabilitation and prevention includes seven programs that received in excess of $1,000. They were: printing invitations and hand-outs, and paying for refreshments and food for a civil rights conference; printing victim-witness brochures; Drug Abuse Resistance Education summer camp; training for the officers in the district attorney's crime task force; a $2,000 donation to the National College of District Attorneys; and $2,500 to the New Bedford Council on Alcoholism. The alcoholism council uses its funds for its detox transportation unit. The college of district attorneys provides training and education programs. The list of smaller donations includes $250 to the New Bedford High School Gridiron Club; $500 to Neighborhoods United and $250 to the Cove Street Neighborhood Association; a $500 donation to the Whaling City White Sox; $30 to YouthBuild; $500 for the Swansea Independent Baseball League; $250 for Reflection; $500 to the New Bedford American Legion; $30 to the Black Professionals Association; and a $100 donation to the New Bedford International Management Council. A $325 donation to the Falmouth Hockey Boosters, outside of Bristol County, was a one-time expenditure based on a misunderstanding, says Mr. Walsh. When he pledged the funds, he thought the league was in Fairhaven, he explained. Several of the organizations receiving drug forfeiture donations also received money from Mr. Walsh's campaign fund. "I give more from my personal account to some things that are near and dear to my heart," he said. In addition to the forfeiture account, Mr. Walsh said he spends close to $22,000 from his regular budget to pay part of the salaries of employees working on juvenile services and community outreach. He says he tries to focus his community spending on programs that keep youngsters busy, such as sports leagues, rather than on treatment for current addicts. "Prevention is better than prosecution," he says. When he took office, Mr. Walsh went after a backlog of forfeiture cases, and since then has had a "take no prisoner" approach to forfeiture. "We will go after anything, even 50 cents," he said, although the average case is closer to $800. Every now and then, he adds, the office will get big cases, such as one in Fall River last year involving $106,000 in cash and four cars. The drug money allows the office to spend money on unanticipated expenses and other operating costs, with the exception of salaries, which is forbidden by state law. Mr. Walsh bristles at the suggestions that district attorneys treat the money like a slush fund. "That's so distressing to those of us involved in this," he said. "I want the public to understand that we are fiscally responsible to taxpayers." Much of the money goes back into drug enforcement and such expenses as maintaining cars seized in drug raids or connected with crimes. Such storage can run as high as $15 a day per car, Mr. Walsh said. He cited as an example a murder case where his office had to store a car for more than year. - ---------------------- In Plymouth County, Mr. Sullivan instituted his grant program in 1995 soon after taking office. In previous years, the office was more dependent on the money to fill funding gaps in prosecutions and investigations. But increased legislative funding has freed up some of the drug money, Mr. Sullivan said. Once a year, usually in January, the office takes out newspaper advertisements and contacts nonprofits to invite grant submissions. "Philosophically, we try to give the drug forfeiture money back to the communities in a way that will have a long-term benefit," he said. One of the office's first programs was teaming up with the YMCA and Brockton Boys and Girls Club to open seven playgrounds and expand the organized summer activities available to elementary and junior high school students in the city. Other projects have included counseling and outreach for drug-addicted prostitutes in Brockton The committee of outside evaluators ranks the applications based on basic criteria, including the ability to monitor the progress of the program and the number of people it might affect. "We thought it would be fairer and more objective if we allowed the community to evaluate these proposals," Mr. Sullivan explains. The remaining funds are used for drug investigations, including money for undercover operations, overtime, and equipment such as recording devices. - ---------------------- A statewide 1994 audit of federal and state drug forfeitures by state Auditor Joseph DeNucci found what were described as some minor problems in several district attorney's offices, including both Bristol and Plymouth counties. Bristol County was cited for failing to file required funding reports with the House and Senate ways and means committees. Plymouth County was cited for having a $147,734 overdraft in its forfeitures account. A check with the Senate Ways and Means Committee showed Bristol County had filed the required report last year, although the committee staff refused to release the actual filing. Plymouth County also has corrected the overdraft, Mr. Sullivan said. Both district attorneys note their offices are audited by the state auditor every few years. Those reviews include an assessment of drug forfeiture money. "The oversight is no different than our operating budget, to be honest. We have to spend it consistent with state law and regulations," Mr. Sullivan says. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea