The recent uptick in drug forfeiture funds seized in Douglas County was also reflected in last year’s rise in expenditures using that money — primarily on training.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office more than doubled expenditures from its forfeiture account last year while the Lawrence Police Department spent five times the amount it spent in 2012.

Lawrence Police spent more than $41,000 of civil forfeiture funds in 2013, up from about $8,600 in 2012, according to Sgt. Trent McKinley, a department spokesman. More than $30,000 was spent on training last year, McKinley said. Most other expenses went toward equipment: about $4,500 on new bicycles used by the department’s bike patrol and more than $4,000 toward a van used for breathalyzer tests.

Training-related expenses were also the department’s most common expenditure in 2012, but in 2013 it ramped up expenses on items like hostage negotiator training, a death and homicide investigation course and a five-day leadership academy in Hutchinson, McKinley said. McKinley said the total amount available in the department’s fund is not spent each year and that the department ended 2013 with a balance of more than $132,000.

District Attorney Charles Branson’s office, meanwhile, spent more than $14,600 of forfeiture funds in 2013, up from more than $6,000 in 2012. Like police, training and travel were most common, but an equipment purchases were last year’s largest single expense: $2,000 toward a joint purchase with police of a Blu-ray disc publisher that Branson said is used to publish the contents of smartphones searched during investigations.

A Kansas statute allows law enforcement to seize assets they believe are related to offenses including gambling, unlawful discharge of a firearm and fraud before a conviction. But in Douglas County, most assets seized are in connection with drug offenses.

Notice of the seized funds is published and the person whose funds are seized is notified. If the seizure is not contested, Branson said.

More than $263,000 was seized in 2013, up from more than $163,000 in 2012 and $62,500 in 2010. The police department receives 85 percent of the funds, with the rest going to Branson’s office. The district attorney’s forfeiture fund account’s balance has grown from about $20,000 when Branson took office to more than $81,000 entering 2014.

“My thought is I like to forget that it’s there and when something comes up go ‘hey, we can probably swing that,'” Branson said.