AGENCIES SHARING SPOILS OF DRUG WAR

A 1999 Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle parked in the garage at the
Fairfield Police Department and more than $22,000 in cash sit waiting to be
claimed -- not by the former owner, but by police and prosecutors.

The heavy V-8 Magnum SUV and the cash all could end up being public
property, split among several agencies if local authorities can prove to a
judge that they were obtained by selling illegal drugs.

In Winthrop, a single sweep of a marijuana-growing operation netted Police
Chief Joseph Young and his department more than $8,000 in drug forfeiture
money.

Kennebec County commissioners accepted $1,600 in cash and three firearms
seized this year in an arrest in Litchfield. A Fayette man agreed to
forfeit more than $30,000 to the state, half the amount of cash seized from
his vehicle in a search for drugs by a sheriff's deputy on Feb. 28 in
Manchester.

The picture is the same across the state, drug money is seized by police
and "plowed back" into eradication efforts. Call it the spoils of the war
on drugs; proceeds, in fact, that can ease the burden of local taxation.

"In the Fairfield drug case, we filed a petition to forfeit the money on
the belief that the cash and the vehicle were derived from the illegal sale
of drugs," said Evert N. Fowle, district attorney for Somerset and Kennebec
counties. "After we have terminated the drug dealers' interest in the
property, we'll need a court order to turn it over to the state, an agency
or town, approved by the attorney general.

"As to how that money or property is distributed, that is up to the
attorney general."

Drug forfeiture money can be used by police departments toward the purchase
of new weapons, a police cruiser or to buffer the overtime police account.
Prosecutors can use the money to fund various offices around the state,
supplement pay increases and provide local matches for juvenile prosecution
efforts.

Forfeiture cases begin in Superior Court, then are sent to the attorney
general for approval. After the attorney general decides how much each
agency involved in a drug-forfeiture case gets as a cut, the paperwork is
submitted back to Superior Court for a final order for distribution.

Fowle said his office handled more than $114,000 in forfeited cash, one
vehicle and three firearms last fiscal year in Kennebec and Somerset
counties. He said the money, once divvied up among the agencies that
participated in the drug raid and subsequent seizure, normally is used to
combat drug sales or for general law enforcement purposes.

Guns and motor vehicles either are sold, or kept and used by various police
agencies for drug work, including undercover hours, he said. Confiscated
drugs either are incinerated or "crushed and flushed" after the case has
been adjudicated.

"When monies are forfeited to a county, municipality or state agency, it is
hoped that this money will be plowed back into fighting our serious drug
problem," Fowle said. "We make no requirement of this, it is up to the
county commissioners, city council or state agency supervisors to determine
how the money is spent.

"Our goal is to separate these assets from the drug dealers to the maximum
extent possible."

Roy McKinney, director of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agreed, saying
once a judge and the attorney general sign off on confiscated money, it is
then up to the various agencies to collect their share.

"The drug proceeds are split; X amount will go to a local department, X
amount will go to the county, some to MDEA, some to the DA's office," he said.

"We're out looking for drug dealers. If we can take some of their blood
money away from them, then all the better. Most of the drug money forfeited
in cases where the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency is involved actually goes
to county, city and town governments in recognition for their help in these
cases."

The Dodge Durango and the cash sitting as evidence at the Fairfield Police
Department were confiscated following a raid Aug. 15 on Ohio Hill Road.
Three people were arrested and police seized cocaine, crack and marijuana.

Fairfield Police Chief John Emery said his department, along with police
from Waterville, Oakland, and Kennebec and Somerset counties, participated
in the raid and therefore will be parties to the cut when the proceeds are
divided, as will Fowle's office.

Fowle said 20 percent of all forfeiture money goes to what is called the
District Attorney's Budget Line, which is maintained by the attorney
general. The rest is awarded to the city or town where the search warrant
originated and is then divided up among the various police agencies.

Emery said the sharing of the proceeds is based on participation in a given
raid. That would include overtime hours, the number of police officers and
equipment used.

From the top line of the forfeited drug money, the department where the
search warrant originated must also pay its bills, he said.

"Last summer we cut a check to Waterville for $4,000," Emery said. "We'll
cut checks from the drug forfeiture account to the agencies for whatever
their share is in the forfeiture."

The controlling agency also must pay for laboratory testing on the drugs.

Assistant Attorney General James Cameron said his office handles all of the
drug cases in Franklin County. During fiscal 2004-05, $3,263 in cash was
seized -- and used -- by the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

He said his office confiscated more than $125,000 last fiscal year
statewide, most of it in Cumberland, Penobscot and Oxford counties. Cameron
said his forfeiture figures in Kennebec County include guns and money not
include in Fowle's account.

Waterville Police Chief John Morris said that by state law, the money goes
to the city or town council or board of selectmen in each community for
disbursement later. Proceeds can be used to purchase new equipment, new
firearms, overtime pay, officer education, narcotic identifying kits --
even for so-called "buy" money, marked bills in a drug sting.

"We use a minimal amount of taxpayers money on our battle with drugs,"
Morris said. "It gives me great pleasure to buy drugs in our drug efforts
with money seized from other drug dealers."

Noting that each municipal or county agency receives varying amounts of
drug forfeiture money, Emery said his department received nearly $18,000
during the last fiscal year. Of that money, about $3,000 was left after the
bills were paid. He said Fairfield's share of the money will go toward a
new police cruiser.