POLICE, SHERIFFS USE DRUG MONEY TO EXTEND BUDGETS

'Paid for with drug dealers' money' is a common theme for law
enforcement agencies across the nation.

From new helicopters to uniforms, agencies use money seized from
drug busts to enhance their budgets.

A StarNews analysis of federal drug seizure expenditure reports over
the past five years in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender county
sheriff's offices as well as the Wilmington Police Department found
that the majority of the drug money is being spent to buy things
normal budgets don't cover.

And as the economy continues its downward spiral, looking to drug
money to fill the gap can be that much more tempting.

But critics of the federal "equitable sharing" program, which allows
drug agencies to request the money they seize, say it creates an
addictive appetite and a risky dependence on the funds. They say some
law enforcement agencies are "policing for profit."

Local law enforcement officials insist they use the drug money as a
bonus and not a budgetary staple. "No locality can totally depend on
it," Wilmington Police Department Deputy Chief David Conklin said.

Local officials also deny that the availability of drug money
influences enforcement decisions.

"We would always prefer to take more drugs off the street than
money," said New Hanover County Deputy Charles Smith, a public
information officer, adding the goal is keeping drugs away from
children - not collecting money.

Over the past five years, the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office
took in the area's largest chunk of federal drug seizure funds:
approximately $1.5 million. Pender had the smallest, at just more
than $77,000. The majority of Brunswick's reports were incomplete,
showing only the amount spent and not received. Chief Deputy Charlie
Miller said the reports he gave to the StarNews were the only ones
available and that they were handled by the previous administration
under the former sheriff, convicted felon Ronald Hewett.

But in fiscal year 2008-09, which ended June 30, the sheriff's
department received $140,000 and spent approximately $104,257. Budget
reports for the year before show that the department received a
little more than $77,000 and spent approximately $61,000. In fiscal
year 2003-2004, the department received more than $143,000.

This year Brunswick has spent more than $16,000 in drug money fixing
up a free helicopter from the military and about $3,000 to get a
sheriff's substation ready in Calabash. A lot of the drug money also
went toward new uniforms and cars.

Next year, the sheriff's department hopes to use drug money to add
more police vehicles. It requested 15 in the county's budget but was
approved for only eight, Miller said.

In Wilmington, the SABLE helicopter program is taking the biggest
slice of the drug money pie.

Four or five years ago the chief and the city council decided to buy
two helicopters and create a partnership with Brunswick and Pender
counties as well as Leland. Brunswick has since dropped out and
gotten its own copter.

The helicopters cost about $161,000 total, but to make sure the city
has funds for operation and maintenance, the police department has
banked a big chunk of its seizure funds.

Out of the roughly $867,826 in federal seizure funds the department
has received since 2004, it has spent about $320,156 of it.

Some of that included money to promote the department's Text a Tip
program where citizens can anonymously give police information about a crime.

New Hanover too has spent drug money on its helicopter, Smith said.

Oversight and Integrity

Agencies must follow federal spending guidelines, which include not
spending the money on salaries or any recurring expenses. But in
Brunswick and New Hanover, the county commissioners have no official
say in how drug money is spent.

Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram gets to decide where the drug
money goes for Brunswick County. He examines his budget and
determines the needs after meeting weekly with the staff and hearing
from his department heads.

That's not to say they purposely keep anything from the county
commissioners, Miller said.

"We have a really good relationship with them," he added.

Commissioners Chairman Bill Sue said the sheriff's department is independent.

"The only thing that the commissioners do is provide them with tax
dollars to operate," he said.

He did say Ingram has been more open than previous administrations
about where the drug money goes.

In New Hanover County, the commissioners have in the past asked the
sheriff's office to use some of the drug money to help pay for
building projects, such as the sheriff's administration building, Smith said.

The Pender County Sheriff's Office seeks approval from county
commissioners for anything more than $5,000, officials said.

Wilmington Police Department cannot spend anything without the OK of
the city council, Conklin said.

"We do have to explain what we're using the money for," he said.

Conklin said this adds integrity to the program and should give
Wilmington residents peace of mind. But Sue says the fact that the
sheriff is elected and has to answer to the people gives him accountability.

'Policing for Profit'

Critics have claimed for years that the lure of drug money can
dictate how police officers do their jobs.

University of Texas criminologists John Worrall and Tom Kovandzic
analyzed 572 police departments to see if that's true.

Though they found policing for profiting exists, they also found
seizing drug money is an effective measure in drug enforcement.

The major finding, according to the study sent to the StarNews by
Worrall, was that police and sheriff's agencies' ability to get their
cases adopted by the federal government creates this
policing-for-profit environment. In states that have restrictions on
drug seizure funds, agencies can go to the federal government as
another option.

The study found that of those surveyed, 60 percent reported they were
dependent on asset forfeiture.

In North Carolina, a large chunk of drug seizure funds are required
to go to local schools. Part of that comes from a tax on seized drugs.

When a department makes a bust, it decides whether to request to make
it a federal case, in which it stands to get up to 80 percent of the
money back, New Hanover County Assistant District Attorney Tom Old said.

But Conklin said that decision is made administratively and has
nothing to do with getting money. He also said the police department
does not base its work on what it might get in return.

"We would never do a seizure based upon some kind of budgetary need," he said.

Miller agreed, pointing to a recent prostitution sting as an example.
He said the sheriff's office had no idea that nearly $50,000 was
stashed away at the local clubs where women were prostituting themselves.

That money will likely go back to the county's general fund.

Federal cases do not always need a conviction before an agency can
get the money. Often these cases go through civil forfeiture, where
the government simply has to show that the property seized was used
for criminal activity, according to Worrall's study.

The study found that 90 percent of civil forfeitures do not include
criminal charges.

Slicing the Pie

Though the state requires that school boards get a large chunk of
drug seizure funds, longtime school board member Shirley Babson
doesn't remember getting much of the money when Hewett was in office.

This year the schools got a check for about $83,000 from Ingram.

"You have to keep your eye on it. It seems like it ebbs and flows
with who is the sheriff in there," she said.

When former Sheriff Herman Strong was in office, Babson recalls going
on TV to demand the school system get its share. It got about
$140,000 after that, she said. Strong was subsequently sentenced by a
federal judge to 14 years in prison for offering protection to drug smugglers.

Babson is also keeping watch on how the money is spent. When it was
revealed at a recent finance committee meeting that the money had
been placed in the superintendent's discretionary fund, Babson questioned that.

She and Miller, who is also a school board member, feel strongly the
money should be spent on drug prevention in the schools.

Since that meeting, Babson said, she found out the money can still be moved.

In the many years of the federal drug seizure program, there have
been few cases of agencies misusing the drug seizure funds, according
to Rudy Renfer, chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office civil division in
Raleigh. But he acknowledged that not every annual expenditure report
is scrutinized.

He said the U.S. Department of Justice doesn't micromanage. "They can't."