Police Milking Drug Dealers of Their Assets With New Law

When narcotics investigators found nearly a ton of cocaine and $730,000 in cash at six homes in Orange County this month, they were pleased for reasons beyond the obvious.

The drugs and 11 suspects were off the streets but, beyond that, the agencies involved get to keep the $730,000, even if the suspects never go to prison.

Anaheim’s Police Department, which helped Los Angeles police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in that biggest seizure in California history, figures it will receive 25% of the loot, or about $182,500, Sgt. Vince Howard said.

A similar windfall happened in December, when an anonymous tip led Glendale narcotics investigators to an apartment where they found $141,000 in cash and two men who were apparently on their way to Colombia.

Law Allows Seizures

No drugs were found, but a trained dog indicated that the bills carried the scent of narcotics.

Glendale police knew they did not have enough evidence to hold the men. “So in lieu of arresting them, we took the money,” Glendale Police Sgt. Mark Distaso said.

An 18-month-old federal law allows local agencies to seize and eventually keep as much as 80% of the assets taken from suspected drug traffickers.

Although many seizures are contested in federal courts, police agencies throughout Southern California expect to recover cars, property and millions of dollars from the nation’s multibillion-dollar illegal drug industry.

So far this year, local and federal agencies have seized a record amount of drugs and cash, officials said.

Cocaine, Cash Confiscated

Since October, more than 1,300 kilograms of cocaine and more than $30 million have been recovered by federal agencies in seven Southern California counties north of and excluding San Diego, said Dwight McKinney, drug enforcement agency spokesman.

Drug trafficking in Southern California is booming because of a crackdown on smugglers in Florida, a major point of entry for cocaine and other narcotics, according to narcotics investigators.

Seized assets are divided among participating agencies based on the amount of work each does on the case. Dividing the booty generally follows an informal “gentlemen’s agreement,” Distaso said.

For example, Laguna Beach narcotics investigator J. L. Jones said recently that her department was in “serious negotiations” with another agency over what roles each would have in a “bust that hasn’t gone down yet.” Pre-arrest negotiations prevent “hard feelings” and conflicting claims for the goods.

But conflicts arise.

In Orange County, for example, some law enforcement officials were surprised to learn that their roles in certain drug cases, compared to that of the Sheriff’s Department, were being downplayed--until they found out why.

“We had a case where one of our lawyers participated in the preparation of a bust by doing the search warrant and some other paper work that allowed for some cash (about $15,000) to be seized,” recalled Deputy Dist. Atty. William Evans. “So we applied for 5% of the cash as our share under the federal program, only to find out that the Sheriff’s Department was claiming 10% based on the efforts of an officer named Winston.

Drugs, Money Sniffed Out

“Come to find out, Winston is the name of a dog. He sniffed out the dope, and he also sniffed out the money,” Evans said.

“What irks me is that the U.S. attorney’s office says we shouldn’t get a dime for preparing the search warrant that allowed the dog to go into the place, but the dog gets 10%.”

Cash isn’t the only booty police departments get. Huntington Beach and Newport Beach police, for example, have a large sailboat and cabin cruiser, respectively, to sell off. Other seizures have netted helicopters and even horse ranches, and agencies have had to maintain equipment and livestock to protect their value at auction.

The federal forfeiture program has been given major emphasis by the Reagan Administration, which pushed for passage of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act, said Brad Cates, director of the Department of Justice’s asset forfeiture office.

The legislation authorized the federal government to share drug forfeitures with local police departments that participate in joint investigations with agencies such as the DEA and the FBI.

“Forfeitures are a way to bring total justice to a criminal case,” Cates said. “People get tired of seeing a guy walk away with one or two years in prison. When you confiscate money, cars, planes or a ranch, people feel that justice is being served.”

Since the program began, Anaheim narcotics investigators have acquired a van, seven cars, two homes and a vacant lot. The van is now used in undercover work. In all, the department has been involved in cash seizures of nearly $3 million, of which Anaheim expects to keep about one-fourth.

Amounts Unpredictable

Howard said the money could become a key element in his department’s annual budget, but the uncertainty of drug seizures means police can’t project income or tell the City Council to reduce the department’s share of taxpayers’ money.

The federal law requires only that the money received through the program be used for law enforcement purposes.

In large cities, tens of millions of dollars are involved. During 1985 and so far in 1986, Los Angeles Police Department investigators have seized more than $22 million in drug-related assets.

Most agencies say that they are spending their proceeds on expensive, high-tech electronics that police say are already being used by high-rolling drug dealers.

“All the little things that you see on TV that nobody really has, we got,” said Sgt. Lee Rossman, head of the West Covina narcotics detail. “It was like Christmas.”

“We spend it on narcotics enforcement,” said Sgt. Chuck Poe of the Huntington Beach Police Department. “But that covers a lot of things. . . . For example, we’ve used the money to buy a new computer system.”

Although most agencies say that sophisticated electronic gear has become a necessary tool for fighting drug traffickers, a recently completed report by the President’s Commission on Organized Crime suggests that forfeiture money should be spent equally on drug-abuse prevention programs, commission spokesman Arthur Brill said.

“You have to continue the law enforcement effort and keep the pressure on traffickers,” Brill said. “But much more attention must be put on prevention to reduce demand in this country.”

State Procedure Used Less

Because it is easier for local agencies to recoup a larger share of drug money seized under the federal law, most police departments have stopped using California’s forfeiture procedure. The Justice Department has received more than 600 applications to share in the estimated $350 million of drug money and assets seized nationwide since August, program director Cates said.

About 10% of the forfeiture cases are contested at federal court hearings by those who claim the money and assets were earned legitimately, Cates said. Though small in number, those cases involve about half of the total value of seizures made, he said.

The hearings are separate from any criminal hearing. And unlike California’s more restrictive forfeiture law, the civil hearings heard in federal court carry a less strict burden of proof.

“The state requires a criminal conviction, but the federal law merely requires a preponderance of evidence,” said Brian Taugher, who directs the state’s asset forfeiture program.

The main reason local agencies are avoiding the state program, officials say, is because the state pays local agencies only the direct costs of conducting the investigation.

Cars, for example, are sold by the state after a criminal conviction and the proceeds are used to pay back police departments. Under federal law, agencies can keep the vehicles. “The state forfeiture law is universally viewed by law enforcement as ineffective,” said Taugher, a special assistant to the attorney general.

Funds for State Programs

That assessment worries state officials, who use the bulk of the state’s drug forfeiture money to finance drug prevention programs and a statewide mental health program for elementary schoolchildren.

The state Narcotics Assistance and Relinquishment by Criminal Offender fund, which shares half of the state forfeiture fund and is used to provide grants to local enforcement agencies for drug programs, has dropped from a 1984 total of $442,000 to the current balance of $111,000, Taugher said.

And a state mental health program, financed by seized drug assets and designed to help kindergarten through third-grade students stay away from drugs, may also be jeopardized by the decline in state forfeiture requests, officials acknowledged.

Assemblyman Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) has introduced a bill that would amend the state forfeiture law to more closely resemble the federal law. For example, the bill would allow the state to seize property and other real assets equal to the amount earned by drug traffickers without having to prove that the assets were actually purchased with drug profits.

Narcotics investigators said the forfeiture law has created enthusiasm among officers because drug traffickers will become the biggest contributors to drug-seizure efforts. But realistically, they added, some big-time dealers will view forfeitures as another cost of doing business.

“Our first priority is to arrest a drug dealer, (second, it’s to) get the stuff off the street and, third, is hurting drug traffickers economically,” said Irvine Police Sgt. Leo Jones.

However, he added that some dealers are able to chalk up asset seizures as a “cost of doing business” and go on dealing elsewhere.

In 1984, for example, Irvine police participated in the arrest of two suspects who were in the process of depositing $250,000 in a bank account. That money was seized along with another $500,000 found at a business and in other banks.

One of the suspects skipped bail and is presumed to be still dealing in drugs somewhere.