Maine law enforcement fails to report money seized in drug busts Beacon

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Maine law enforcement fails to report money seized in drug busts Beacon Maine law enforcement fails to report money seized in drug busts Dan Neumann Public safety officials in Maine appear to be

1 Maine law enforcement fails to report money seized in drug busts Beacon Maine law enforcement fails to report money seized in drug busts Dan Neumann Public safety officials in Maine appear to be breaking state law by failing to report cash and property seized by police agencies from drug convictions. Asset forfeiture is a policing practice where a person can have their property, such as cash, a car or a house, awarded to the state, municipality, or police agencies that participated in their arrest if a court determines the property was connected to a drug crime. Page 1 of 8

2 Under Maine statute, the Department of Public Safety which oversees both the Maine State Police and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency is required to maintain a centralized record of property seized, held by and ordered to the department which must be provided at least quarterly to the Commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services and the Office of Fiscal and Program Review for review. Chris Nolan, director of the Office of Fiscal and Program Review (OFPR) a nonpartisan office within the legislative branch that analyzes the fiscal impact of legislation has confirmed that his office has not received this report and that they have no record of ever receiving it. The Department of Administrative and Financial Services, under the direction of Governor Paul LePage appointee Alec Porteous, has not responded to requests to confirm if his department has received the required reporting from the Public Safety Department. Page 2 of 8

Reporting requirements also apply to Maine s local police departments, according to a legal interpretation of Maine s statute by Dan Alban, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice (IJ), a non-profit

3 Reporting requirements also apply to Maine s local police departments, according to a legal interpretation of Maine s statute by Dan Alban, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice (IJ), a non-profit libertarian public interest law firm, who cited the statute s requirement that any officer, department or agency having custody of property subject to forfeiture or having disposed of the property shall maintain complete records. Rep. Drew Gattine, who chairs the state legislature s Appropriations Committee, said this discrepancy is troubling and that accurate reporting is critical for legislative oversight. It s concerning to me to understand that these reports aren t being made, said Gattine. What I understand from talking to the folks at OFPR is that it has been a long, long time since they received one of those reports. Police departments may use forfeitures to benefit their bottom lines According to Congressional reports, Maine received nearly $13.3 million in assets from 2000 and 2017 through partnering with federal agencies in drug prosecutions an average of $737,888 per year. Page 3 of 8

4 Federal and state laws allowing police to seize cash and property were drafted as a way to cripple large-scale criminal enterprises by diverting their resources, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In all, the U.S. Department of Justice seized $27 billion in cash and property between 2001 and 2017 $4.5 billion in 2014 alone, which coincides with the onset of the opioid crisis. Much of this was taken through civil asset forfeitures. In civil cases, property owners do not have to be convicted of a crime to lose their property. In Maine, criminal forfeitures, which require a criminal conviction before the cash or property is awarded to the police, are more common, according to the U.S Attorney s Office in Maine. Maine s Office of the Attorney General is responsible for ensuring that any seized asset that is awarded to law enforcement is in fact connected to a crime. However, Maine still has a low standard of proof. Law enforcement only has to show a mere preponderance of evidence that the property is tied to a crime. For example, if Maine law enforcement believes a car, house or cash was acquired through the commission of a crime, they merely have to show that it is more likely than not crime-related in court to be awarded the property or cash. Civil liberties advocates say transparency laws, such as Maine s reporting statute, are vital because, without oversight, police departments may use forfeitures to benefit their bottom lines, inviting seizures motivated by profit rather than crime-fighting. Laws like this are designed to make sure that the public knows about abuse, said Zach Heiden, legal director of the ACLU of Maine. Secrecy is anathema to the criminal justice system. You can t have the government have the power Page 4 of 8

5 to take people s belongings, lock them up, and allow them to do it in secret. According to the IJ, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) seized $1.5 million between 2009 and 2013 an average of $247,395 per year. According to filings with U.S. departments of Justice and Treasury, state and local law enforcement in Maine has also received a total of $13.3 million from the federal government since 2000 as the state and local share of forfeitures seized through joint drug prosecutions with federal agencies, such as the FBI, Page 5 of 8

6 DEA, ATF and ICE. This is an average of $737,888 per year. At the local level, in 2017, the Lewiston Police Department took in approximately $37,000 from forfeitures, Bangor Police Department took $25,453, and Portland Police Department took in $13,080 through jointinvestigations with MDEA, according to public records obtained by Beacon. But these findings do not account for the total amount of cash and property state and local law enforcement has seized from drug busts, an amount that is not knowable without collation and reporting by state police officials, as mandated by statute. There is no available documentation on how police in Maine are spending that money. IJ gave Maine a failing grade in key categories they track how states conform with their forfeiture transparency laws. [Maine doesn t] require any reporting of how agencies spend forfeiture proceeds, said Jennifer McDonald, a senior research analyst with IJ. There are no statewide forfeiture reports that aggregate agency activity. Any limited records that do exist are not put online or made accessible. There s absolutely nobody auditing these forfeiture financial accounts to see if the income and spending is being done properly. She added, Maine, pretty much, is one of the worst in the country in terms of forfeiture reporting, shy of those states that just have no reporting requirements whatsoever. Lack of transparency limits lawmakers oversight and ability to direct seized assets to address public health priorities Maine public safety officials failure to report these assets make it difficult for state lawmakers responsible for providing oversight of law enforcement to Page 6 of 8

7 spot potential abuses of cash and property seizures or redistribute those funds. Obviously, the purpose for that report is so the legislative and the executive branches have some insights into what kind of funds are coming in, said Gattine. Advocates such as Maine Health Equity Alliance and Portland OPS are urging lawmakers to fund non-criminal justice initiatives such as medically-assisted treatment, sober-living homes, clean syringe exchanges, overdose prevention sites, walk-in medical clinics for people without medical coverage, mental health counseling, as well as case management services for people living with HIV and AIDS and say seized assets could be one source of funding. Some members of law enforcement agree, and say it would be natural for assets seized during drug cases to fund those programs that can best address the underlying issues leading to those crimes. We re not arresting our way out of this problem, said Chief Rich Stillman of the Bridgton Police Department. [Forfeiture proceeds] should go into mental health services or addiction treatment. Public Safety Commissioner John Morris a former Waterville police chief who was appointed to head Maine s public safety department in 2011 has not responded to repeated questions about why his office is not producing the required reporting of seized assets, or whether the department will comply with the law going forward. John Doyle, LePage s senior policy advisor for public safety was similarly unresponsive. (Photos from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency website.) Page 7 of 8

8 Dan studied journalism at Colorado State University before beginning his career as a community newspaper reporter in Denver. He reported on humanitarian policies in Africa and produced documentaries on climate change and U.S. asylum and military policy on the continent before returning to his home state of Illinois to teach community journalism on Chicago's West Side. He now lives in Portland. Page 8 of 8

DARE TO CREATE A MORE PERFECT UNION. Maine

DARE TO CREATE A MORE PERFECT UNION Maine Annual Report 2017 2018 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear friends, Each of us has a different path that brought us to the ACLU. My own path started in the