SPECIAL ANTI-MOB FORCE NEEDS FUNDS, TRAINING: REPORT

$180M budget not enough, review says

Inexperienced staff, hefty up-front costs and mounting legal fees have
hampered a major federal program designed to take the profit out of
organized crime.

Several improvements, including better training and management, are needed
to ease the growing pains, says an evaluation of the program, set up to help
authorities seize and sell houses, cars, boats and other criminal proceeds.

The report represents the first detailed look at the Integrated Proceeds of
Crime initiative, established in 1996 with a $180-million budget over five
years, ending in 2001. Under the program, administered largely by the RCMP,
units in 13 Canadian cities are tasked with zeroing in on the illegal
proceeds of drug crimes, smuggling, fraud and gambling.

A declassified version of the secret evaluation, completed in January by the
Solicitor General's Department, was released to the Citizen under the Access
to Information Act.

The report, which covers 1997-98, says the new program has increased the
ability of police to undertake complex investigations that target high
levels of organized crime.

"Of course, improvements can be made on any program," said RCMP Sgt. Mike
Cabana. "That's why we're modifying our approach, and we're paying attention
to the suggestions in the evaluation."

The report says training "was a significant concern" in all of the units, a
problem aggravated by a high staff turnover rate. Sixty-five per cent of
investigators had three years' or less experience in the area of proceeds of
crime. Yet it takes three to five years before an investigator has the
required expertise "to be fully effective in the unit."

There were also questions about support from other government departments.
For instance, there were "significant delays" by the Revenue Department in
staffing customs officer positions in several proceeds of crime units.

Though the primary goal of the program is to tackle organized crime, it is
also expected to generate revenues, through forfeitures and fines, that
offset the cost of investigations.

A cost-benefit analysis conducted by the evaluators showed the program
wasn't yet paying for itself.

Successful cases generated $30.1 million in revenues in 1997-98, or 62 per
cent of the $48.9 million spent on the overall program. However, the
evaluation says "a large proportion of the costs" went to ongoing cases that
are expected to pay off in coming years.

The three largest units, located in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, have
accounted for the lion's share of revenues.

Still, under the law, defence lawyers for accused criminals can apply to a
judge for liquidation of seized property to help pay legal expenses. That
means there is sometimes little or nothing left at the end of the case.

"The level of legal expenses claimed is often very high," says the
evaluation. "In some cases funding is provided for the retainer of two
partners in a legal firm."

The report says the program has focused heavily on drug investigations,
which are easier to undertake than fraud or gambling cases, and often result
in large cash forfeitures. "The challenge over the next few years will be to
better balance the level of investigation activity between drug, smuggling
and enterprise crime-related cases."

The evaluation also recommends that seized items such as cars and boats,
which quickly depreciate in value, be sold off more promptly.