Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jan 2000
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2000 The Kansas City Star
Contact: letters@kcstar.com
Address: 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108
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Author: Karen Dillon

BILL WOULD TIGHTEN RULES ON SEIZING DRUG MONEY

A bill filed Tuesday would force state and local law enforcement
agencies to follow Missouri law when seizing drug money.

The bill was filed by Sen. Harry Wiggins, a Kansas City Democrat who
is co-chairman of a joint legislative committee that has studied the
drug money problem for months.

Rep. Jim Kreider, a Nixa Democrat and co-chairman of the committee, is
expected to file a similar bill as early as today.

The measures are the result of articles published by "The Kansas City
Star" last year showing that state and local law enforcement agencies
were not following state law when seizing drug money.

The law requires the money in most cases to go to public education
rather than law enforcement. But officers were handing off the money
to federal agencies, which usually returned 80 percent to the police.

Tuesday's bill would:

Define a seizure as "the point at which an officer or agent discovers
and exercises any control over the property." Police have said they
were not circumventing state law because they were not seizing the
property in the legal sense--they were merely "holding it" until a
federal agent could officially seize it.

Require law enforcement agencies to give detailed reports of all
seizures to the county prosecutor or state attorney general, who then
must submit a report to the state auditor. Failure to do so would be
a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $1,000. The state auditor
would file a report with the General Assembly by Feb. 28 of each year.
The report is a public record.

Apply the same misdemeanor penalty if police failed to file annual
audits of drug money with the state auditor's office.

Other legislators also are filing forfeiture bills in the House and
the Senate, including a constitutional measure that would split drug
money evenly between law enforcement and education. If passed, it
would have to be approved by voters because it would amend the
constitution.