POLICE HOLDING DRUG-RAID LOOT

Millions not being spent on deterrence

Law enforcement agencies throughout Ohio are sitting on millions of
dollars seized from drug dealers instead of spending it to put more of
them behind bars.

Agencies explain the surpluses by saying they want to keep reserves or
because they can't find anything to spend the money on.

But one of the state's top law enforcement officials says the whole
point of drug seizure and forfeiture laws is to reinvest proceeds in
drug-fighting equipment and programs.

The Cincinnati Enquirer examined drug money in the three biggest
agencies in Ohio's six largest counties, and three smaller counties in
the state's southwestern corner.

As a group, the agencies have taken in $33.5 million since 1993. They
spent or invested $26 million. They have a balance of $7.5 million, or
about 22 percent of the money confiscated.

Cincinnati and Cleveland police and the Hamilton County sheriff top
the chart for unspent drug money. Cincinnati has an average balance of
$1,015,499 at the end of each year; Cleveland's is $949,966; the
sheriff's is $828,840.

The balances are growing each year, as agencies continue to confiscate
more than they spend. The unspent money languishes, even while
departments request annual budget increases and fight for higher taxes
on the ballot.

What's more, few agencies are meeting the only spending requirement
written into state law: that a percentage of drug money confiscated
each year be used for anti-drug education in the community.

Among the Enquirer's findings:

The Cincinnati Police Division should be spending up to 100 times more
on community drug education. The department spent $1,000 a year from
1993 through 1996, when drug receipts indicate spending should have
reached $119,810 annually.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul has invested $1.2 million of
drug money in interest-earning accounts, including U.S. Treasury
bills. According to the sheriff, only the interest is returned to the
central drug fund. The rest appears to be kept in separate bank accounts.

Agencies provide detailed records of the money and property they
confiscate. But nobody monitors the spending, including such potential
watchdogs as the state attorney general, state auditor or state Office
of Criminal Justice Services.

The ramifications of unspent money go far. With leftover money each
year, Cincinnati could put five more police officers on the street,
and Hamilton County could pay the salaries of three more.

The large drug money balances and investment accounts worry Ted Almay,
superintendent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation.

"That's a lot of cash," Mr. Almay said. When told about the
investments, he responded, "I've never heard of anybody doing that."

Drug forfeiture laws emerged from a belief that drug dealers were not
being punished forcefully enough. Dealers were hiding assets in other
people's names, and they had the money to mount well-paid legal
defenses. Or they could start up business again after serving jail
time.

A 1984 federal law allowed police to seize the "tools" of the drug
trade, including cash, cars and things bought with drug profits:
homes, boats, jewelry, artwork.

Also, the law was intended to promote cooperation among law
enforcement agencies, which can share the confiscated money and goods.

Ohio, like other states, copied federal law in 1990 and began allowing
local agencies to collect drug money, even when federal agents were
not involved in the capture.

"We were finally able to tap into the assets of the bad guys, and, in
turn, use them to fight drugs," said former Assistant Police Chief Ted

Schoch, who oversaw drug money for Cincinnati police until July. He
now heads the police training academy.

Cincinnati police confiscate an average $1.4 million annually in state
and federal seizures; the Hamilton County sheriff, $661,947. Cleveland
police collect $711,145 each year in state cases alone.

With the money, many departments contribute to regional narcotics
teams. Departments also supply undercover operations with training,
offices, vehicles and electronic surveillance equipment. Often, the
drug money serves as a ready pool of money to match federal grants.

Except for salaries, Cincinnati pays for its entire 17-officer
undercover street corner unit with the drug money. The department also
finances its pharmaceutical diversion unit, which polices phony
prescriptions, and the department's share of the multijurisdictional
Regional Enforcement Narcotics Unit.

"The whole idea is to make sure the money is being put back into
fighting crime so the citizen is the beneficiary of it," Mr. Schoch
said.

The department does not pay salaries with the money, which is
permissible under state law but not federal law. Most departments keep
two funds: one for cases charged under federal law, the other for state law.

Mr. Schoch said that relying on drug arrests is too irregular to pay
salaries. "This money is not guaranteed. It could stop today," he said.

Cincinnati police have maintained an average balance of $375,993 since
1994 in the state forfeiture account alone. The unused balance could
put five more officers on the street and still leave a federal fund
balance of $487,211.

But Mr. Schoch argued he liked to keep a surplus on hand. Offices for
undercover agents are leased, for example, and he has to cover future
payments.

Also, when the federal or state government has a grant to bestow, the
department can dip into the drug fund to match the grant without
jumping through political hoops.

Recently, the department was able to contribute to a $40,000 piece of
hospital equipment -- a videocolposcope -- that aids in rape
investigations, Mr. Schoch said.

While state law gives departments broad spending discretion, it
requires just one minimum payment from law enforcement agencies: It
says anti-drug education programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) must receive 10 percent of the first $100,000 an
agency receives, and 20 percent of any amount over that.

Most law enforcement agencies in Ohio are not meeting those legal
requirements, according to the Enquirer's investigation. Mr. Schoch
said he didn't know there was such a requirement and instructed his
staff to look into it. They came up with a 1992 solicitor's opinion
that said the department must contribute only part of the
"forfeitures" it seizes, not the "contraband."

The opinion's author, assistant city solicitor John Hanselman Jr.,
said contraband is what is seized immediately at the scene, and
forfeiture is property that police are able to trace as the fruits of
drug profits, such as a painting or a bank account.

But no one is keeping track of which is which.

"It's all put in the same fund," Police Spc. David Kelly said. "I
don't think there's ever been a breakdown."

Other law enforcement agencies also fail to distinguish between
"contraband" and "forfeiture" money in their public reports. Using
their total receipts, the Enquirer found most agencies are not meeting
the law's requirements.

For example, Cleveland police spent $47,452 in 1995 when its total
receipts indicate it should have spent $166,943. Columbus, Akron and
Toledo police did not show any drug education donations when they
submitted annual reports to the attorney general.

Clermont County Sheriff A.J. "Tim" Rodenberg said he has increased
DARE spending as a way to make better use of a $128,304 surplus
collected by his office and a regional drug task force he
administers.

The Office of Criminal Justice Services warned Sheriff Rodenberg, he
said, that the surplus was too high. "They want that money to keep

moving. They don't want it just sitting there," he said.

In his nearly two years on the job, he has searched for new,
drug-related ways to spend the money: on a K-9 unit, for DARE
graduation awards, to buy Breathalyzers.

Other departments said they like to keep money on hand, as much as
$100,000, to use as "buy money" or "flash money" for undercover agents
posing as drug customers.

Annual reviews by the state auditor look at a small sample of
transactions to make sure they are following accounting procedures. A
spokeswoman for the office, Kate Buchy, said it cannot vouch for the
propriety or legality of each expenditure.

"It would be impossible to look at every transaction," she said. "The
idea is we're looking at a representative sample."

Two other departments, those of Summit County Prosecutor Maureen
O'Connor and Hamilton County Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr., are investing
in certificates of deposit, $175,110 and $1.1 million,
respectively.

Sheriff Leis refused an interview to explain his department's
expenditures and investments, and the unspent balance of $828,840.

But he did supply spending records. They show he has built several
crime-fighting units with the money, including a marine patrol, a SWAT
team and a computer crime division. Area agencies depend on the
sheriff's helicopter for search and rescue.

Over five years, the sheriff also paid $120,209 to build, carpet, tile
and equip gymnasiums; $27,987 for kilts, bagpipes, drums and other
expenses of the Sheriff's Bagpipe and Drum Corps; $18,137 to construct
bathrooms; $12,246 for landscaping.

"The statutes are quite clear in that these funds are expended at the
discretion of the law enforcement agency," Sheriff Leis wrote in
response to a request for an interview.

Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin, who is often at odds with
the sheriff over spending, said he trusts the sheriff is using the
money for good programs.

But Mr. Dowlin said he would use some of the money to expand drug
court, which fast-tracks drug offenders through the court system if
they participate in rehabilitation. It costs about $200,000 to equip a
courtroom for a year and an additional amount for the treatment
services associated with a drug court.

Money also could be used for rehabilitation, said John Young, who
retired in July after eight years as director of Hamilton County's
Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. Ohio law recommends police
consult with someone in his position about the spending.

"We have waiting lists for virtual every service in our system," Mr.
Young said.

The underspending worries Ohio House Speaker JoAnn Davidson,
R-Reynoldsburg.

"If the question is dollars not being used for a specific purpose that
was the intent of the legislature, that would cause me some concern,"
she said.

Most law enforcement officials said nobody has ever questioned their
use of the drug money. That is possibly because no one is watching.
Agencies file annual reports to the U.S. Department of Justice and the
Ohio attorney general. The reports do not have to give details, just
total dollars.

At the state level, filing the report is strictly voluntary. Some
departments simply don't send them. And nobody in the attorney
general's office reads the reports.

"There is really no entity that monitors that spending beyond the
press and local governments," said Mr. Almay of the state
investigations bureau, a branch of the attorney general's office.

During its last session, the General Assembly amended the law to
eliminate copies of annual reports for the Senate president and House
speaker.

Not that it mattered.

"When I took over the speaker's office, there were boxes of these
things around, and I had no idea what they were and why they were
here," Ms. Davidson said.

"If we find more oversight is needed, we've got to have a better
method than boxes in legislative leaders' offices."

[SIDEBAR]

Drug forfeiture funds

Numbers are an annual average for the past five years in selected law

enforcement agencies. Spending includes state and federal accounts
combined, except where noted. In some cases, the unspent money is
greater than what was received because a balance has built up over
time.

Cincinnati Police Division Average receipts: $1,351,933 Average
spending: $951,973 Average unspent: $1,015,499

Hamilton County prosecutor Average receipts: $178,632 Average
spending: $75,964 Average unspent: $456,721 (no federal funds)

Hamilton County sheriff's office Average receipts: $661,947 Average
spending: $562,712 Average unspent: $828,840

Clermont County sheriff's office Average receipts: $94,139 Average
spending: $90,293 Average unspent: $128,304 (no federal funds)

Clermont County prosecutor Reports not provided

Union Township Police Department Reports not provided

Hamilton Police Department Average receipts: $23,294 Average spending:
$20,886 Average unspent: $20,412 (no federal funds)

Butler County prosecutor Average receipts: $27,151 Average spending:
$14,743 Average unspent: $22,102 (no federal funds)

Warren County prosecutor Average receipts: $29,194 Average spending:
$19,850 Average unspent: $52,162 (no federal funds)

Mason Police Department Average receipts: $9,059 Average spending:
$5,999 Average unspent: $30,469 (no federal funds)

Warren County sheriff's office Average receipts: $6,257 Average
spending: $147 Average unspent: $36,586

Sources: Ohio attorney general's office, individual departments

Copyright 1998 The Cincinnati Enquirer

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady