LAW ENFORCEMENT SHARES THE WEALTH IN WAR ON DRUGS

DEA Distributes $2.2 Million From Traffickers' Assets for
Collaborative Efforts.

Washington area police and sheriffs departments received nearly $2.2
million last year from cars, houses, cash and other assets seized
from drug traffickers, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

Joint federal-local task forces assembled by the DEA's Washington
Division made 491 seizures from drug dealers in the District, and
from counties and cities surrounding Washington, in the fiscal year
that ended last month.

The seized assets were sold, and 80 percent of the proceeds were
passed to the local police and sheriffs departments, said Supervisory
Special Agent Michael Turner. The DEA keeps the rest to cover costs
of administering the program.

"The checks are a result of your hard work," said R.C. Gamble, the
division's special agent in charge, at a reception held for seven
departments receiving money.

There are 166 state and local law enforcement officers working on
task forces with the DEA's Washington Division, which covers
Virginia, Maryland, the District and West Virginia, Gamble said.
Proceeds are shared according to each jurisdiction's participation in
the joint task forces.

"It's not about the money," he said. "It's about the collaborative effort."

Asset forfeiture became part of DEA's arsenal under a 1979 law. By
1991, the federal government was seizing $700 million worth of assets
annually from arrested drug dealers. The program was criticized at
the time because some seized assets were only tangentially related to
the drug trade. Legal safeguards were added later to place more
limits on whose property could be seized.

Asa Hutchinson, sworn in as DEA administrator in August, demonstrated
his interest in the asset forfeiture program by personally
distributing checks at the reception in the District last week.

"This is a great opportunity to tell you how much the DEA appreciates
your contributions," said the former Arkansas congressman. "Think
about all that money going into the coffers of local law enforcement.
But it's coming from the drug traffickers, and it hits them hard. We
know how great a tool this is in our arsenal."

For jurisdictions such as Loudoun County, the money "helps us buy
equipment that we probably couldn't get from the budget," Sheriff
Stephen O. Simpson said. He cited surveillance and communications
equipment for undercover work and a major-incidents vehicle that can
act as a mobile command center.

Loudoun received nearly $40,000, according to the DEA.

Prince George's police Maj. Clint Lindsay, who heads the narcotics
division, said the county doesn't rely on asset forfeiture money for
ongoing costs because it is difficult to predict how much will be
received each year.

Officers do keep track of seized assets, but the department does not
receive the revenue immediately.

A case can sometimes take several years to move through the court system.

Prince George's, which received $654,000 last year, recently used
some of its asset forfeiture funds to buy a Barringer ion scanner,
which can determine whether cash has been in the presence of cocaine
or other illegal drugs, Lindsay said.

Virginia State Police officials said the financial aspect of the
asset forfeiture program is secondary for them; they received
$250,536 last year.

"We like it as an investigative tool to put the drug dealers out of
business," said Lt. Col. Darrell Stillwell, director of the Bureau of
Criminal Investigation.