Civil forfeiture rare in Creston

Down a long, dark room is a line of shelves, each holding different items that are now evidence attached to investigations or closed cases under Creston Police Department jurisdiction.

Recently, a slew of stories in the media has brought civil forfeiture to the forefront across the nation, and even in Iowa. However, Creston Police Department has not abused the system, rarely seizing items or cash without reason.

“We really don’t do a lot of seizure of property and cash,” said Paul Ver Meer, Creston police chief. “On rare occasion we will, but it’s always run past the county attorney first to see if he feels it’s a good candidate for forfeiture or seizure.”

Start

“Forfeiture, or seizure, has been used by law enforcement mainly in the drug-related offenses,” Ver Meer said. “We’ve found that taking the money from drug dealers affects them a lot more than just taking their drugs, and that’s where it started.”

According to Ver Meer, the American federal government put the forfeiture law into effect in the 1980s to prevent Colombian drug dealers from shipping drugs. Drug dealers would ship cash back across the border, which is where American law enforcement would intercept the money and seize it.

“States use it for similar things, for drug trafficking, stuff gained through commission of a crime,” Ver Meer said.

According to a recent analysis of U.S. Department of Justice data, three Iowa law enforcement agencies received more than $250,000 as part of the Equitable Sharing Program via seizures from people not charged with a crime and with no warrant issued. The program allows federal and state agencies to share seized assets. In Iowa, Cedar Rapids Police participated in 71 seizures and received more than $550,000 of $2.1 million. Cass County Sheriff participated in nine seizures and received more than $350,000 of $3.2 million. And, Polk County Sheriff participated in 40 seizures and received more than $250,000 of $2.7 million.

Local

Ver Meer said he and his officers are “conservative” when it comes to seizures.

“I don’t think that we should just seize the money because we can,” Ver Meer said. “I think we should have a definite justification for it.”

In the past seven years, Ver Meer said he has seized cash or assets three times.

Of those three times, Creston Police Department received a portion of money seized by state narcotics enforcement after assisting in one or two cases. The money had to be turned over to the court system before being released to any agency.

“We purchase equipment for the police department,” Ver Meer said of how seized money is spent. “We use it to aid in the purchase of vehicles, put it in a forfeiture fund, like we currently have to help support the police K-9.”

Any cash seized because of charges against someone, such as possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, is held by the police. If that money is not part of the drug charge, the person must prove it for the cash to be returned.

“Anything three years or older, if nobody has requested that it be returned to them, or the courts order that it be returned, we go through and we process the evidence either for destruction or, if there’s a victim listed on the property sheets, we get hold of the victim and return the property,” Ver Meer said.

All seized items are kept for approximately three years until the case is adjudicated, or resolved, after which items are destroyed. Controlled substances such as marijuana and methamphetamine are burned and drug paraphernalia are destroyed. Victims of theft involving firearms and other weapons, such as guns or bows, are returned their items, whereas owners of those items who are charged with certain things such as domestic abuse assault are not returned their items. The weapons are instead destroyed through abandonment procedures.

“We err on the side of caution, and we don’t just go out and seize whatever we can. And, one nice thing about working in a smaller county is we have a pretty good idea of who’s who and what’s what,” Ver Meer said. “A lot of times we’ve returned property to people that we’ve seized that the court says, they’ve either been found not guilty or the case was dismissed.”

Seizure

Essentially, all seized assets must go through the court system before any law enforcement agency can claim them. The county attorney and a judge must sign off saying the assets were part of a crime, before they are turned over to a police department.

“If we seize cash through a drug raid or something like that, and we apply for asset forfeiture, and the courts give it to us, they agree with us,” Ver Meer said. “The money will only be spent for things of a law enforcement nature, to purchase equipment, supplies, things like that.”

However, not all law enforcement agencies are like Creston Police Department. Some people have “pushed the envelope,” according to Ver Meer, when it comes to what has been purchased using seized assets.

“If you use it for what it’s intended, and you don’t try to stretch the envelope, you find it’s easier for you,” Ver Meer said.

Iowa state legislators have recently looked at standardizing forfeitures, which will prevent abuse of the civil forfeiture law.