ASSET CONFISCATIONS URGED

DA Wants To Attack Drug Problem With Misdemeanor Seizures

MALONE - A public hearing next month will determine if Franklin County
residents want the district attorney to go after small-time drug operations.

Federal laws already allow law-enforcement agencies to seize vehicles,
cash and other items that are used in felony-level narcotics-
trafficking cases.

But DA Derek Champagne wants the county to adopt a new law that would
give him the same powers to seize items in misdemeanor-level drug cases.

He told legislators last week that known drug dealers in the St. Regis
Falls and Bombay areas make several trips a day to transport their
products, carrying just enough drugs to avoid felony charges if they
are arrested.

Possession of more than 8 ounces of marijuana is the lowest felony
count. A felony count for cocaine possession is having an aggregate
weight of a half-ounce or more.

Dealers "know the magic numbers" for misdemeanor and felony weights,
Champagne said.

"This proposed law addresses that and gives the same weight for
seizures of vehicles," he said, adding that he borrowed the text for
his proposed law from one that has been used in Onondaga County since
1996.

Champagne said the county - which includes the St. Regis Mohawk Indian
Reservation and its international border with Canada - could greatly
benefit from the law, as could local law-enforcement agencies.

One-third of the money earned during seizures would go back to the
police agencies that made or were involved in the bust.

If the State Police are the lead agency, the money would be held in an
account that could fund undercover operations or purchase equipment,
such as pagers and cell phones, that troopers need.

"I want to do away with those problems," Champagne said. "The money is
out there. We've just never grabbed on to it. This will change the
internal policies on forfeitures so we can seize vehicles."

Champagne said circumstances would be considered if, for example, an
18-year-old used a parent's car to make a drug transaction without the
parent having any idea it was taking place.

The public hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in the
fourth-floor legislative chambers of the County Courthouse.