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Not everyone's a fan of the police practice of seizing property and cash from drug offenders.
Politically, there have been movements around the country in the past, and a referendum to make it harder to do so here in Massachusetts just barely failed four years ago.
On the streets, many drug dealers began renting cars years ago because they can't legally be seized after an arrest, and the Essex County district attorney's office believes a decline in captured cash is due to dealers getting better at hiding their proceeds.
But it remains a favorite part of law enforcement's arsenal, one that local police say has been particularly crucial during the budget challenges of the past few years.
When Methuen police became just the second area department to purchase stun guns last week, it was only the latest example of a department turning to seized drug cash to do something that might have taken months, years or never happened at all without the steady supply of drug money-turned-budget boost.
"There are many, many uses for it ... and that's big, because it would kill us for money if it went into the city's general fund," said Haverhill police Chief Alan R. DeNaro, touting the fact that chiefs have discretion over the money -- no jumping through bureaucratic hoops to spend it.
"We don't put our budgets together with any fat in them, so if something comes up, this gives us an alternative," he said, estimating that his department's current total of about $30,000 is an average yearly haul.
He's about to use some of it to split the roughly $10,000 cost of a new speed trailer with the city, and has his eye on eventually using it toward a $50,000 range simulator, which puts officers in situations like a bank robbery or hostage-taking and forces them to react.
"Something like that I'm not going to go to the city and (ask for) ... but it would be a benefit to the entire department," said DeNaro, who has used money in the past for collapsible batons, surveillance equipment, undercover vehicles, laptops and cell phones, just to name a few.
In North Andover, the department is about to fund the training -- at about $15,000 -- of 10 part-time police reserves that haven't been available for years, said Lt. Paul Gallagher. While the amount taken in ranges from $1,500 to $10,000 a year, he said, even those small amounts help at times like these, when otherwise the hires "might be delayed."
Andover has about $23,000 right now, said Lt. James Hashem, and generally gets an even split between seized cash and cars they take and sell.
"Not Ferraris or anything like that. It's what you'd expect to find -- Hondas, Toyotas, and by the time we see them somebody's put them through their paces," he said. "Usually they have nice stereos, and everything around the stereo is a mess."
In the past, he said, the money has been used on K-9 drug detection school, and more recently it has funded undercover drug buys.
That's also how Lawrence spends the majority of its cash nowadays, said Capt. Al Petralia, with $30,000 currently in the department's account. He's been around long enough to remember when it wasn't an option.
"Before if you were on the street and your informant says he needs $40 or $50, you were digging in your pocket," he said. "That's the way it was. Now, you come to me, and I can give you cash out of here, as long as you document what you're doing with it."
The drug buys range from $20 to the thousands, and it's a self-sustaining practice.
"If we didn't have it to use for buys, we'd have to get it out of the budget somehow," said Petralia. "And you know what that would be like, with red tape and city hall."
Lawrence also has a rare example of usable equipment coming from a seizure -- a white pickup truck taken about five years ago that still serves community policing.
The district attorney's office is responsible for proving in court that property and cash are connected to or the product of drug business, and keeps half of everything seized in Essex County's 34 communities.
Spokesman Steve O'Connell says that with the exception of 2001 -- when the $991,000 total was an aberration caused by a few major busts involving multiple agencies -- the money has slowly dropped as dealers get "more savvy about hiding their money."
It dropped from $392,000 in 2002 to $328,000 in 2003, said O'Connell, but it's still significant in a $6.5 million budget. It funds everything from buy money for the state police to investigative overtime during a prosecution.
"It really helps us survive," said O'Connell.
None of what happens here in the Merrimack Valley is the huge amounts or fancy boats, yachts, helicopters and planes DeNaro remembers seeing seized in his days as a policeman in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., area. And it does require its fair share of paperwork, accounting, and an annual federal audit.
But the notion of not having it is enough to cause instant aggravation with those who rely on it.
"I can't believe we would even mention that," said Petralia. "It's not like we're spending it to have parties. ... We put (drug dealers') money to work for us."
By Chris Markuns
Staff Writer
https://www.eagletribune.com/framesets/news.htm
Politically, there have been movements around the country in the past, and a referendum to make it harder to do so here in Massachusetts just barely failed four years ago.
On the streets, many drug dealers began renting cars years ago because they can't legally be seized after an arrest, and the Essex County district attorney's office believes a decline in captured cash is due to dealers getting better at hiding their proceeds.
But it remains a favorite part of law enforcement's arsenal, one that local police say has been particularly crucial during the budget challenges of the past few years.
When Methuen police became just the second area department to purchase stun guns last week, it was only the latest example of a department turning to seized drug cash to do something that might have taken months, years or never happened at all without the steady supply of drug money-turned-budget boost.
"There are many, many uses for it ... and that's big, because it would kill us for money if it went into the city's general fund," said Haverhill police Chief Alan R. DeNaro, touting the fact that chiefs have discretion over the money -- no jumping through bureaucratic hoops to spend it.
"We don't put our budgets together with any fat in them, so if something comes up, this gives us an alternative," he said, estimating that his department's current total of about $30,000 is an average yearly haul.
He's about to use some of it to split the roughly $10,000 cost of a new speed trailer with the city, and has his eye on eventually using it toward a $50,000 range simulator, which puts officers in situations like a bank robbery or hostage-taking and forces them to react.
"Something like that I'm not going to go to the city and (ask for) ... but it would be a benefit to the entire department," said DeNaro, who has used money in the past for collapsible batons, surveillance equipment, undercover vehicles, laptops and cell phones, just to name a few.
In North Andover, the department is about to fund the training -- at about $15,000 -- of 10 part-time police reserves that haven't been available for years, said Lt. Paul Gallagher. While the amount taken in ranges from $1,500 to $10,000 a year, he said, even those small amounts help at times like these, when otherwise the hires "might be delayed."
Andover has about $23,000 right now, said Lt. James Hashem, and generally gets an even split between seized cash and cars they take and sell.
"Not Ferraris or anything like that. It's what you'd expect to find -- Hondas, Toyotas, and by the time we see them somebody's put them through their paces," he said. "Usually they have nice stereos, and everything around the stereo is a mess."
In the past, he said, the money has been used on K-9 drug detection school, and more recently it has funded undercover drug buys.
That's also how Lawrence spends the majority of its cash nowadays, said Capt. Al Petralia, with $30,000 currently in the department's account. He's been around long enough to remember when it wasn't an option.
"Before if you were on the street and your informant says he needs $40 or $50, you were digging in your pocket," he said. "That's the way it was. Now, you come to me, and I can give you cash out of here, as long as you document what you're doing with it."
The drug buys range from $20 to the thousands, and it's a self-sustaining practice.
"If we didn't have it to use for buys, we'd have to get it out of the budget somehow," said Petralia. "And you know what that would be like, with red tape and city hall."
Lawrence also has a rare example of usable equipment coming from a seizure -- a white pickup truck taken about five years ago that still serves community policing.
The district attorney's office is responsible for proving in court that property and cash are connected to or the product of drug business, and keeps half of everything seized in Essex County's 34 communities.
Spokesman Steve O'Connell says that with the exception of 2001 -- when the $991,000 total was an aberration caused by a few major busts involving multiple agencies -- the money has slowly dropped as dealers get "more savvy about hiding their money."
It dropped from $392,000 in 2002 to $328,000 in 2003, said O'Connell, but it's still significant in a $6.5 million budget. It funds everything from buy money for the state police to investigative overtime during a prosecution.
"It really helps us survive," said O'Connell.
None of what happens here in the Merrimack Valley is the huge amounts or fancy boats, yachts, helicopters and planes DeNaro remembers seeing seized in his days as a policeman in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., area. And it does require its fair share of paperwork, accounting, and an annual federal audit.
But the notion of not having it is enough to cause instant aggravation with those who rely on it.
"I can't believe we would even mention that," said Petralia. "It's not like we're spending it to have parties. ... We put (drug dealers') money to work for us."
By Chris Markuns
Staff Writer
https://www.eagletribune.com/framesets/news.htm
