THE SCHOOLS COULD GAIN

Your Feb. 21 article about local drug forfeitures left out one of the most
important elements of the story. The dollars collected from drug forfeitures
should be going to the public schools, not to the sheriffs' offices. Article
IX, Section 7, of the state constitution provides that "the clear proceeds
of all penalties and forfeitures...shall belong to and remain in the several
counties, and shall be faithfully appropriated and used exclusively for
maintaining free public schools." That provision has been part of the
constitution since 1875.

Unfortunately for public education, sheriffs, like those quoted in the
article, avoid sending drug forfeiture money to the public schools by
turning their cases over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration,
even though the investigation is wholly a local matter and should be handled
under state law. If the case stayed under state law, as it should be, the
proceeds would go to the schools. When the sheriff hands the case over to
the feds, on the other hand, 80 percent of the money is returned to the
sheriff's department.

There, as reported in the article, the money is used for cars, guns, rain
jackets, four-wheelers, boats and the like, rather than for textbooks,
teachers' salaries and other educational needs.

Drug enforcement is important, and law enforcement agencies deserve full
public support and funding. Sheriffs should not be converting their local
drug seizures to federal cases, however, and redirecting public school money
to rain jackets and neon-green traffic vests.

Michael Crowell

Raleigh

(The writer is an attorney.)