UTAH ATTORNEY GENERAL PROPOSES REWRITE OF FORFEITURE LAW THAT COSTS
SCHOOLS, VICTIMS

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has determined district attorneys and
courts in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties violated state law by
allowing law enforcement agencies to pocket more than a quarter of a
million dollars in seized money and property that rightfully belongs to
public schools.

But he doesn't yet know how to fix the mess and is still bent on rewriting
the very forfeiture law that counties appear to have skirted.

"These were court ordered," Shurtleff said Tuesday, adding that retrieving
the misplaced $237,999 could mean going to court.

Shurtleff delivered his legal opinion Monday to Senate President Al
Mansell, who requested it in the wake of an audit that found proceeds from
28 forfeiture cases in 2001 never reached the state treasurer as set out in
the Utah Uniform Forfeiture Procedures Act.

The law, a ballot measure known as Initiative B, was approved by 69 percent
of Utah voters in the November 2000 election. It was intended to remove the
profit incentive from forfeitures and prevent police from zealously
impounding the cars or seizing the property of innocent third parties in
criminal cases. Forfeiture proceeds are supposed to be used to compensate
crime victims, pay legal fees of innocent forfeiture victims and help schools.

But according to a recent state audit, those groups haven't seen a penny
since the law went into effect in March 2001.

County attorneys deny any wrongdoing, saying they followed the newer of two
conflicting forfeiture statutes on the books.

"We are not in violation of the law and everything we have done is legal,"
said Kent Morgan, Salt Lake County Attorney spokesman.

A likely solution, said Shurtleff, would be to retrieve the money directly
from law enforcement agencies, though some of it might already have been
spent. He plans to poll police departments to see where "everything stands."

But of more immediate concern, he said, is rewriting Initiative B so it is
enforceable and more fairly balances property owners' rights against the
need to keep criminals off the streets.

A group of police and crime victims are rallying today at the Capitol in
support of the rewrite.