ESCALADE ESCAPADE' LEGAL - BUT WRONG

Columbia County Sheriff Steve Rowe says it's perfectly legal for him to
drive around in a used Cadillac Escalade his department seized from a drug
dealer.

It may be legal, but that doesn't make it right.

He also says the Cadillac cost the taxpayers nothing. That's not exactly
true: It's diverting money that ought to be going into the state school
fund. In fact, cases similar to Columbia County's "Escalade escapade" have
diverted at least $7.5 million from the school fund in the past four years
alone.

Police and prosecutors are circumventing a state law which requires that
items seized during a criminal investigation be forfeited in state court
and the money turned over to a state school fund. With federal government
help, they've found a way to keep most of the goodies for themselves.

It all started with the war on drugs, when the Drug Enforcement
Administration began seizing boats, cars, houses and cash used by drug
smugglers and dealers, then selling them to finance DEA operations.

Local police were also making drug-related seizures. Wisconsin prosecutors
were supposed to file forfeiture actions in state court and turn the money
over to the school fund. But the locals soon found that if they brought the
feds in on a case, the DEA or the U.S. Attorney's office would handle the
forfeiture actions, thus relieving local prosecutors of an unwelcome
burden. The feds -- after keeping 20 percent off the top -- would turn the
proceeds back to the police agencies themselves. The school fund was out of
the loop.

Defense attorneys compare this deal to piracy. "It's the same system that
was used on British naval ships during the Revolution," says Madison lawyer
Steve Hurley. "They paid the sailors by letting them keep the loot they
took off ships they seized. It's law enforcement getting a direct, monetary
reward from the work they do."

Hurley tells of a man who solicited a prostitute who turned out to be an
undercover officer; the police seized his car. In New Jersey, a teen-ager
sold drugs while driving the family car; the car was seized even though it
didn't belong to the teen. That case, still in the court system, could
result in New Jersey's civil forfeiture law being declared unconstitutional.

Defense attorney David Mandell says it's not uncommon for someone to be
arrested, have his or her assets seized, but never be convicted -- or even
charged -- of a crime. "I had a case where a couple was arrested, the cops
took a large amount of cash from them, but they were never charged -- and
of course, they never got the cash back." Hurley concurs: "I can't tell you
how many times I've settled these kinds of cases by saying OK, you can keep
the car, keep the house, just drop the charges.' I've also had cases where
my guy gets acquitted but still doesn't get his stuff back."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Beth Altman says, "It is our general policy that we
want to see convictions" in property seizure cases and adds "by federal
law, there must be criminal behavior" before any seizure is made. Still,
she concedes that some defendants may not be charged nor convicted but
still lose their property.

The Dane County Sheriff's Department received $258,396 and eight cars in
2003 through seizure actions. Sheriff Gary Hamblin says the money and cars
were shared with other police departments. He says the process holds down
taxpayer costs for policing.

But letting cop shops keep the booty they seize from criminals (and
sometimes from non-criminals) circumvents not just the state law that says
such money is supposed to go to the school fund, but the legislative
process itself. The judicial branch, which includes police officers, isn't
supposed to determine what it gets to spend -- that's up to the executive
and legislative branches of government. When cops and prosecutors act like
pirates, they violate the separation of powers.

It's highly unlikely that the Columbia County Board would have allowed Rowe
to buy a Cadillac Escalade with taxpayer money. It's even less likely that
the Portage School Board would have chipped in. But that, in effect, is
what happened. And it happens all over Wisconsin.

It may be legal, but that doesn't make it right.