STATE HUNTS SHARE OF DRUG FORFEITURES

ATLANTA - Little of the money state police officers seize from drug
traffickers winds up helping them fight crime as a 1974 law intended,
according to a government report that has lawmakers wondering whether
changes are needed.

Instead, state law enforcement agencies let local police claim the money in
hopes they will donate a share to the state.

Often, local departments donate cars, computers or money for equipment, but
some state police officers told investigators they don't always get their
share.

In 2001, state judges ordered the forfeiture of more than $8 million worth
of cash and property confiscated from 2,830 drug seizures, according to the
Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

Until the department published its report in October 2002, no one knew how
much was forfeited because there is no mechanism for the state to regularly
collect the data.

Rep. Burke Day is among those worried something is out of balance, and the
Tybee Island Republican sponsored legislation to sniff out the situation.

"I've been trying to figure out where does it go," he said.

His resolution to create a study committee of legislators stalled because
House Speaker Terry Coleman says there are too many special study committees.

Still, he has the same questions Mr. Day has.

"It's worth looking into," said Mr. Coleman, D-Eastman.

Mr. Coleman was the chairman last year of the organization that requested
the audit, the Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee. When the audit
was released, it was in the middle of fall elections, when the committee
members were likely more focused on politics than policy.

The members never met to discuss the findings. This year's committee
chairman, Sen. George Hooks, D-Americus, wasn't familiar with the details
of the audit but said he expected the panel to study it further after the
state budget situation is resolved.

"It is an area that we need to look into to tighten the guidelines of how
these funds are distributed," Mr. Hooks said.

Under Georgia's forfeiture law, only 25 percent of seized assets can go to
the state. That share goes directly into the Georgia treasury rather than
into the accounts of the statewide police agencies, which include the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia State Patrol, the Department
of Corrections and the Department of Natural Resources.

The auditors concluded there was no incentive for the state agencies to try
to seize property under the state law, and that none had in the past five
years. The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the GBI and the
state patrol, is considering some change in its policy, said spokesman
Gordy Wright.