SEIZURES: BY THE NUMBERS

Scott County police agencies seized either money or property from
suspects in 412 cases between Jan. 1, 1996, and November 2000. Here
is a statistical breakdown of the cases:

The Assets

- - $854,665.95 - Total seized by police in Scott County

- - $763,221.74 - Kept by law enforcement following civil forfeiture hearings

- - $387,723.92 - Metropolitan Enforcement Group's share of the seized assets

- - $140,472.47 - The Davenport Police Department's share of seized assets

- - $628,122.14 - Kept by police in seizure cases where criminal
charges were filed

- - $135,099.60 - Kept by law enforcement in 103 cases where no
criminal charges were filed

- - $ 91,444.21 - Returned to either the original owners or the
attorneys of defendants

- - $ 53,278.75 - Returned by police in cases where criminal charges were filed

- - $ 38,165.46 - Returned by police in cases where no criminal charges
were filed

The Cases

Of the 412 civil seizure cases...

- - 254 cases were criminally prosecuted in Scott County District Court

- - 55 cases were prosecuted federally

- - 370 cases involved cash

The Property

- - 76 cases involved seizure of guns

- - 57 seized vehicles - including cars, vans, trucks and one boat -
were awarded to law enforcement agencies

- - 14 vehicles were returned to the original owner

- - 1 home was seized and sold by law enforcement

Sources: Scott County asset forfeiture records and the Iowa Attorney General

Note about the series: Quad-City Times reporters Marc Chase and Tom
Saul spent five months combing through 412 civil asset forfeiture
cases on file at the Scott County Attorney's office, and entering
that information into a computer spreadsheet program.

The reporters then searched for corresponding criminal case
dispositions through computer data banks in Scott County District
Court and the U.S. District Courts in Des Moines and Rock Island.
Hundreds of criminal files themselves also were searched.

If criminal case dispositions were found, that information was
entered into the spreadsheet program for analysis.

The project also involved a review of Davenport Police Department
internal letters, memos and arrest reports collected by the Times
during the past 14 months.