COUNTY SHERIFF ENJOYS FRUITS OF FORFEITURES

The sheriff's office in Douglas County, Neb., just finished a new
$4.2 million crime lab and police-dog center thanks to money seized
from people driving by on Interstate 80.

That money is a small part of a large and controversial
asset-forfeiture program known as "equitable sharing."

In this program, local authorities work with federal officials in
seizing assets, such as cash or cars, they believe are tied to
illegal activities. If the assets are deemed to be crime-related, the
local and state agencies get up to 80% of the proceeds. Last year,
equitable sharing paid out more than $500 million.

Since 2003, per capita Nebraska has been the fifth biggest
equitable-sharing recipient among states, thanks partly to rising
drug-related highway traffic, says Martin Bilek, Douglas County's
chief deputy sheriff. New York, Maryland, Florida and Georgia ranked
higher, Justice Department data show.

In the past decade, Douglas County sheriff's officials say they have
made hundreds of seizures of drugs and related assets (cash or autos,
for instance) on I-80 and reaped some $11 million in
equitable-sharing funds. The money has been used to pay for weapons,
computers, uniforms, surveillance gear, travel and training. The
office has more than $3.3 million still to spend, says Sheriff Tim Dunning.

The money can be especially important, officials say, given the
financial woes faced by local governments. In Douglas County, the
sheriff's office budget is $13 million after 2% cuts this year and last.

Sheriff Dunning says that when he told county officials about plans
for the crime lab, "They said I was crazy," invoking the county's
financial problems. "I said I was paying cash," he says. "Not one
taxpayer dime" went into the project.