Douglas County is processing more than four times the amount of seized cash in civil forfeiture cases three years after its district attorney bolstered seizure efforts.

Last year, $263,174, much of it seized along with drugs or weapons, made its way through district court. The amount was nearly double the $136,362 seized in 2012 and more than four times the $62,565 seized in 2010, the year before Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson appointed an attorney to focus on civil forfeitures.

A Kansas law authorizes police to seize assets from anyone suspected of one of about two dozen crimes. Officers can seize property without a prosecution or conviction related to the offense. In Douglas County, Branson said, most forfeitures processed stem from drug busts conducted by the Lawrence-Douglas County Drug Enforcement unit. In 2013, the unit was also responsible for the seizure of 5,682 grams of marijuana and about 24 pounds of methamphetamine.

Seized drugs and weapons become part of criminal cases and are typically destroyed by police unless needed for evidence during prosecution, Branson said. Cash and other items are processed by courts as civil cases and, if not claimed, are awarded to the agency that seized them, with 15 percent going to the district attorney’s office for processing the cases. In most cases, Branson said, money seized with drugs goes unclaimed.

“Once we have seized assets suspected to be drug proceeds, then it is on them to prove that they are not and that they have a legal means of having what was seized,” Branson said.

Seized funds can’t be used by government agencies for expenses such as salary enhancements. Instead, Branson’s office uses the money to fund staff training or to provide agencies such as Lawrence Memorial Hospital with equipment such as that used to exam sexual assault victims. According to Branson, the fund has grown from roughly $20,000 when he took office in 2005 to about $70,000 today. He said appointing a civil appellate attorney, Patrick Hurley, experienced with dealing with seizure cases, has helped process more civil forfeitures since 2011.

The drug unit repurposes seized vehicles for use during investigations and has used proceeds to buy equipment such as encrypted radios not detectable by scanners, said Sgt. Trent McKinley, a department spokesman.

A 2010 report by the Institute for Justice, a non-profit law firm, criticized Kansas’ seizure law as “placing an excessive burden on property owners” and “providing a strong profit incentive for law enforcement agencies.” Branson said he has taken a conservative approach. “We’re not out there trying to forfeit strange things or to set traps for people,” he said.

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