PUEBLO DA INSISTS FORFEITURE LAW NEEDED

Pueblo's district attorney said Thursday that his office can't afford to
buy computers, cameras and other equipment without proceeds from property
confiscated under Colorado's civil forfeiture law.

Gus Sandstrom Jr. said the law is working just fine, and he doesn't want
the legislature to change it.

"We're desperate for dollars. We can't keep up with the crooks without the
forfeitures," Sandstrom said. "We use the money to make up for the training
the city and county can't pay for and to buy equipment.

We wouldn't have a digital camera without the forfeiture money."

Sen. Bill Thiebaut, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield,
announced legislation Thursday aimed at reforming Colorado's civil
forfeiture law.

"Right now, state law allows the government to take your property just
because it looks like you're doing something wrong," Mitchell said.

Victims Called Deserving

Thiebaut said he's strongly opposed to law enforcement prospering from
property seizures. But as the law currently stands, most do. He said he was
surprised to learn Sandstrom depends on forfeiture proceeds to furnish his
office.

"Victims deserve to be compensated before buying computers for law
enforcement's offices," Thiebaut said. House Bill 1404 has the bipartisan
backing of 17 other lawmakers in the House and Senate and a broad coalition
of groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Rifle
Association.

The bill would require that, in most cases, the property owner be convicted
of a crime before items are confiscated. It would make it easier for
citizens to reclaim their property by requiring the government to show why
it should be seized rather than forcing citizens to prove why it shouldn't.

Reporting Requirements

In addition, the legislation would toughen the requirement that law
enforcement report cars, cash and other assets seized from citizens
believed connected to a crime. A 1992 law sets out the reporting
requirement, but most law enforcement agencies may be ignoring it.

It also would require that proceeds of confiscated assets be funneled to
lien holders, such as banks, innocent family members and drug treatment
programs, once law enforcement has been compensated.

According to a list released Thursday, the El Paso County sheriff's office
reported $678,660 in cash and $1.3 million in "fixed assets" in its
forfeiture funds.

Mitchell said current law "actually creates an incentive for police to take
your property because they get to keep what they take."

He said the law also makes a mockery of a basic constitutional premise that
citizens are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. "That's wrong,
and we want to change it," Mitchell said.