The word came just before Christmas, in a conference call from officials with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Like a large lump of coal in the stocking of local law enforcement agencies across the U.S., federal officials announced that the Equitable Sharing program, better known to most people as the asset forfeiture program, was being suspended indefinitely.
Niagara County Sheriff James Voutour called the announcement a “punch in the gut” to local law enforcement. Falls Police Superintendent Bryan DalPorto said the loss of asset forfeiture funds will have an immediate impact on his department’s budget.
“One of the only things we have that hurts drug dealers is taking their toys and their money,” DalPorto said.
When the program was first launched in 1984, the goal was to allow state and local law enforcement to turn the “proceeds of crime” against criminals by seizing cash and other valuables and then using those funds and items for enhanced law enforcement programs.
Since the program began, more than $5 billion has been distributed to local law enforcement agencies around the country, including those in Niagara County. In 2010 alone, more than $500 million flowed to state and local police and sheriff’s offices.
The partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice is necessary because the seizures and forfeitures are authorized by federal, not state, law.
Assets seized as the “proceeds of crime” are turned over to federal authorities who administer the equitable sharing program. The feds take a 20 percent cut for the cost of administration, with the remaining 80 percent of the assets returned to the local law enforcement agency that originally seized them.
“(Elimination of the program) would completely decimate a lot of things we have done,” DalPorto said. “The money and vehicles we seize are essential to us.”
