LAW SEEKS TO REGULATE SEIZURES

Plan Restricts Law Enforcement's Right to Claim Property

DENVER - Some state lawmakers think law enforcement officials could misuse
property and cash seized from criminals and want the system reformed.

Rep. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, would like to make it harder for police,
sheriffs and district attorneys to seize property. His recently proposed
House Bill 1404 also would make agencies give 75 percent of the valuables
they seize to a state drug treatment program.

"The problem we are trying to address is that right now, state law allows
law enforcement agencies to take your property just because they think it
might be connected to something illegal," Mitchell said. "It creates an
incentive for them to keep property because jurisdictions keep what they take."

The bill tentatively is scheduled for a hearing in a House committee next
week, Mitchell said.

In 2000, the El Paso County Sheriff's Department reported it had $1.9
million in cash and other assets collected from crime-related forfeitures
and seizures.

The money is used to pay for undercover drug purchases, to clean up meth
labs busted by local agencies and to help small police agencies in El Paso
and Teller counties pay for radios, bulletproof jackets and more, District
Attorney Jeanne Smith said.

"If that is cut, some of those operations will cease to exist," said Smith,
the chief prosecutor in the 4th Judicial District. Using proceeds from
seizures, Smith argues, is integral to conducting anti-drug operations in
the county and is not misuse of money.

"I worry that it is just another way of taxing local entities to get state
funding," she said, noting the state is facing a nearly $1 billion budget
shortfall and is scrambling for ways to balance the budget.

Mitchell, however, contends it has nothing to do with a grab for cash by
the state, but that it is a necessary reform of a law ripe for abuse.

"Government can take your property without convicting you or ever charging
you with a crime," he said. "That isn't right, and we need to change it."

HB1404 would require agencies to return all seized property when and if a
person is not charged with a crime or if a person is acquitted in court.

In addition, when law enforcement agencies keep property, they would have
to prove it was connected to the crime. Victims also would be able to claim
a portion of the money if they were injured or had property damaged by a
criminal whose valuables were seized.

"These people have the right to be compensated before we buy computers for
police departments," said Sen. Bill Theibaut, D-Pueblo, who is sponsoring
the bill in the Senate.

HB1404 would update a 1992 law that asks agencies to report how much money
and property is seized each year and to show how it was spent. The problem
is law enforcement agencies have been less than consistent in complying
with the law.

In 2000, only 19 law enforcement agencies, including the El Paso County
Sheriff's Department, reported to the state - a fraction of the police
organizations that seize property.

HB1404 would require all police, sheriffs and other law enforcement
agencies to give a detailed accounting of seizures each year, submitting
them to the state auditor's office.