POLICE GO AFTER CRIMINALS' PROFITS

Proceeds of crime unit expects to collect more than $16 million this year

The RCMP's Federal Integrated Proceeds of Crime (IPOC) unit is giving
new meaning to the adage that crime doesn't pay.

With assets worth almost $16 million seized in 2010 currently being
contested in the court system, a spokesman for IPOC says the unit has
even bigger numbers in the works for 2011.

As the courts grant the forfeiture of more property from criminals
each year, IPOC spokesman RCMP Const. Michael McLaughlin said on
Tuesday they feel going after a criminal's assets is one of the most
effective deterrents they have in the war on crime.

"People will think twice if you take away their profit," he said
after the new figures were released.

Through its national proceeds-ofcrime and anti-money-laundering
programs, McLaughlin points out, IPOC's role is to "disrupt"
organized crime and other criminal activity by seizing, and
ultimately convincing the courts, to approve the forfeiture of assets
associated with criminal activity.

In 2010, IPOC's Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) referred 145 cases to the
B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office for civil action. The $15.8 million in
assets seized in 2010 under legislation in effect since 2006 included
cash, cars, boats and properties.

A civil action, McLaughlin notes, in the case of a vehicle or home
"all you need to prove is it was being used illegally."

So far in 2011, IPOC has already recommended civil forfeiture of
assets worth $16 million, said McLaughlin -the same amount as in all of 2010.

Among those cases is a house on Siskin Drive in Abbotsford valued at
$673,000 where police say they found a sophisticated marijuana
grow-op that operated for nearly eight years, as well as firearms,
ammunition and cash.

The civil claim filed in court earlier this month says the house, in
which police found 1,040 marijuana plants, was bought with drug profits.

A recent high-profile forfeiture case that drew big headlines was the
successful seizure of a Ferrari and a BMW following a 200 km/h street
race in North Vancouver.

The blue $235,000 Ferrari Scuderia was the most valuable vehicle ever
forfeited to the province. It and a white 2008 BMW M6 nearly hit a
woman and her two young children as they raced up Mount Seymour in a
60 km/h zone on Sept. 25 last year, according to the RCMP.

"This case was them actually endangering the public," said
McLaughlin. "They weren't criminals -just people who made a very bad decision."

Solicitor-General Rich Coleman said after the seizures that the
Ferrari and BMW were the first and most "salacious" vehicles removed
from the road since a 2008 amendment to the Civil Forfeiture Act gave
the province authority to seize vehicles driven recklessly.

The Ferrari was sold to a local dealer for $235,000, with 50 per cent
of the proceeds going to a relative of the driver who was part-owner
but not involved. The province will receive 20 per cent and the
driver 30 per cent. Coleman said some of the money had to go back to
the owner because there were bank loans to cover.

The Ferrari and BMW netted the province an estimated $100,000.

The province is also pursuing forfeiture of two Harley Davidsons
captured on film by the Air 1 traffic helicopter as they allegedly
reached speeds of up to 160 km/h along the Trans-Canada Highway
before exiting on First Avenue in Vancouver. The RCMP seized the
motorcycles from two full-patch Hells Angels who were allegedly on
their way to the funeral of slain teen Laura Szendrei on Sept. 29.

In Vancouver, police say they are using civil-forfeiture legislation
to greater effect, sending a clear message to organized crime that it
doesn't pay to set up shop in the city.

Police announced in January that a $1.2-million property seized under
civil-forfeiture legislation was, to date, the most valuable
Vancouver house forfeited.

Insp. Brad Desmarais, head of the VPD's gang and drug section, said
the property in the 1400-block West 53rd Avenue was searched last May
as part of a larger investigation into grow-ops.

Simon Fraser University criminologist David MacAlister, who teaches
criminal law and criminal procedure, notes the RCMP's figure of
forfeiture expectations for this year is only a small fraction of
what organized crime groups are making.

"I would think you would want to see that figure in the hundreds of
millions to make a dent," he said.

But MacAlister does feel that when police talk about their seizures,
it helps as a deterrent. He also believes the civil process is necessary.

"Some of these organized crime groups are inherently difficult to
investigate," he said. "It can be tough to get any evidence on them."