POLICE BOARD TELLS DEPARTMENT TO FOLLOW STATE FORFEITURE LAW

Under mounting pressure, the Kansas City police board ordered the
department Thursday to follow state law when seizing drug money and property.

Kansas City is thought to be the first major law enforcement agency to
adopt a policy of following Missouri forfeiture law, which usually sends
such money to education, instead of working often with federal agencies to
keep seized money.

The board also agreed Thursday not to fight a lawsuit filed by the Missouri
attorney general seeking $3.5 million in cash as well as other property
that Kansas City police have been holding onto for several years.

The money and property come from seizures, unclaimed money and other types
of cash that under state law should have gone to schools in four counties
as well as county and state treasuries. The money already had been set
aside by police pending a decision on where it should go.

The board said it would turn the cash over to the Jackson County judge
handling the lawsuit and ask for an order to allow the department to
auction the property, with proceeds to be held by the court.

Both of the board's actions came after weeks of adverse publicity.

"It's to the point that my own stepdaughter thinks we are wrong," said
police board member Joe Mulvihill.

Attorney General Jay Nixon's lawsuit was filed a week ago. Last month, The
Kansas City Star published a series of stories showing that police across
the country evade state laws with the help of federal agencies to keep
millions of dollars in drug money.

To prevent a conflict of interest, many states have laws that prohibit
police from directly profiting from crime-fighting. In Missouri, the
constitution generally requires the money to go to education.

But The Star found that, instead of following state laws, police often hand
off drug money they seize to a federal law enforcement agency that then
returns a portion, usually 80 percent, to police.

This week state Sen. Harry Wiggins, a Kansas City Democrat, sent a letter
to the police board asking that it fully support a bill he is sponsoring.
The bill would force Missouri police to follow state forfeiture laws.

During Thursday's special meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, the
three members who attended -- Mulvihill, Stacey Daniels and Dennis Eckold
- -- voted unanimously to adopt a policy based on Wiggins' bill. A written
policy will be presented to the board Tuesday.

Wiggins was delighted when contacted later.

"The police commissioners have shown the state how to represent law
enforcement and how to represent the public," Wiggins said. "This is
magnificent."

State Sen. Ronnie DePasco, a Kansas City Democrat who attended the meeting,
said the support of Kansas City police would help the bill in the next
legislative session.

"It is the right thing to do instead of waiting for it to pass until
February next year," said DePasco, majority floor leader.

DePasco said he hoped other agencies around the state would follow. But he
said rural law enforcement has been stubborn about the legislation.

"(They) are opposed to giving the money to the school districts," DePasco said.

Mulvihill, who proposed the policy, estimated that Kansas City police have
been receiving $1 million a year in forfeiture money.

"With a $120 million budget, it doesn't seem like this million dollars is
worth all this adverse publicity," Mulvihill said. "I think we should quit
this questionable policy."

Last week the board also came under fire when the attorney general filed
his lawsuit involving the $3.5 million.

The lawsuit stems from a story The Star published in 1996 about the money.
In 1997, the department filed a friendly lawsuit asking a judge to decide
where the money was to go. But in March of this year, Dale Close, the
department's attorney, asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.

When Nixon filed a new lawsuit based on the money, it caught police board
commissioners by surprise even though Nixon had sent a letter to Eckold,
the board president, and faxed a letter to Close almost two weeks before
the lawsuit was filed. Eckold said he never received his letter.

In the two letters, Nixon outlined the travails his attorneys went through
trying to negotiate with Close before filing the lawsuit.

Board members Thursday raised concerns about why Close never told them he
was negotiating with Nixon's attorneys for two months.

"Why didn't we just follow through with the lawsuit we had filed?"
Mulvihill asked. "Or why didn't we cooperate with the attorney general's
office after the case was dismissed?

"But the more important issue is apparently we have alienated the attorney
general."

Mulvihill read aloud the portion of the letter that discussed how a
conference call had been scheduled between Close, department personnel and
Nixon's attorneys. When the attorneys called, they received Close's
answering machine. They left a message but he never returned the call, the
letter said.

Close said he thought Nixon's attorneys just wanted to schedule a meeting
to come to Kansas City.

When asked why he did not tell the board that Nixon was planning to file
the lawsuit, Close said he thought he had gotten the matter resolved after
receiving the letter. He immediately telephoned Nixon and they agreed to
continue the negotiations.

But Nixon said the information his office then received from the department
was inconsistent, and he finally filed the lawsuit.

"We will be encouraged by any steps in the right direction," Scott Holste,
an attorney general's spokesman, said Thursday of the board's decision not
to fight the lawsuit.

Allan Hallquist, an attorney for the Kansas City School District, said he
was pleased but cautious. He said he did not think that the department had
procedures in place to prevent it from keeping property and money in the
future.

"I am pleased the matter is resolved for the time being," Hallquist said.
"I'm not convinced we won't be back in five years. I hope the board
examines the procedures that need to be in place so that the problem isn't
repeated in the future."

To reach Karen Dillon, call (816) 234-4430 or send e-mail to kdillon@kcstar.com