CRIME CASH FUNNELLED TO WOMEN'S SHELTERS

The provincial government has frozen criminal assets worth more than
$19 million, seizing Lululemon bags stuffed with drug money, selling
bullet-riddled cars, confiscating slick watches from cadavers and
selling an Airdrie Quonset used to run a fight club.

Now, for the first time, the province is funnelling $150,000 of that
tally into new programs to help victims of crime.

Justice Minister Alison Redford announced Tuesday the Alberta Council
of Women's Shelters will get the first grant to launch a pilot program
to help victims of domestic violence in rural areas.

"We are taking the proceeds of crime and using it for the public
good," Redford said after making the announcement in Edmonton.

"This money has come from our Civil Forfeiture Fund . . . a fund that
was established over the last two years and is developed out of
property that has been seized from criminals who are committing
criminal acts," said Redford.

Redford was key in pushing the legislature to adopt the controversial
Victims Restitution and Compensation Payment Act in 2008.

The act allows police to seize property if they suspect it is being
used for illicit purposes, regardless if anyone is charged with a
criminal offence.

Government lawyers take the case to civil court, which only deals with
property used to commit crimes and not with the alleged crime itself.
Since nobody's liberty is at stake, the standard of proof is much
lower and prosecutors need only satisfy a judge the assets are more
than likely the proceeds of crime.

Critics said the new law violates civil rights and makes an end-run
around long-standing protections embodied in criminal law. The
constitutional validity of a similar Ontario law was challenged at the
Supreme Court of Canada, where the government won.

As a result, Alberta's Civil Forfeiture Office has grown from three
lawyers to roughly 12, and director Karl Wilberg says at least two
hundred cases are currently in various stages.

The lawyers have a 95 per cent success rate, he said, and for every
dollar of taxpayers' money spent to maintain the office, the lawyers
win $1.50 in court.

"We've had some rather astonishing finds in the course of this
program," he said. "We've taken a . . . fight club, someone had a ring
set up in their Quonset, and underneath the ring is an (alleged
marijuana grow operation)." Police also allegedly seized axes and
spears like those used in the Middle Ages.

"We've had a lot of suitcases full of money, Lululemon bags," he said,
along with $80,000 used in a foiled contract killing. "There was a
pile of money, and we've got it."

Other items include:

- - 87 vehicles, many used in dial-a-doper operations and one used for
human trafficking;

- - seven residential homes used for marijuana grow operations;

- - 68 bundles of "bulk cash" worth more than $1 million;

Most of the $19 million is still tied up in legal proceedings, but
Redford said the province expects to announce more grants in the
coming three months.