Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie is lobbying against a proposed bill that he says would make it significantly harder for law enforcement officers to seize drug assets.
McDuffie estimated his office has seized more than $200,000 worth of drug assets in about six years — vehicles, cash, houses and one boat. He’s used the money to purchase firearms, vehicles and equipment for his department.
Taking the property of drug criminals “seems to be the only thing that really hurts them,” McDuffie said. He urged citizens to encourage their state lawmakers to vote against the measure — House Bill 1.
McDuffie traveled to Atlanta last week with some sheriffs of other counties to lobby against the bill.
State Rep. Bill Hitchens, R-Rincon, said a number of local law enforcement agencies in Georgia have failed to report each year, as state law requires, how much they collect in drug forfeitures and what they’ve done with the money.
Critics say the lack of reporting means law enforcement agencies have their own personal “slush funds” and can do with them as they please, with no oversight.
Under the bill, agencies that fail to make the reports would no longer be allowed to collect money from drug assets.
Hitchens said there should be some punishment for failing to make the reports, but he isn’t sure the 91-page bill is the best way to go about it.
“The cure is worse than the disease,” he said.
Hitchens said he’s heard from a lot of people who are opposed to the bill and no one who is for it.
State Rep. Jon Burns, R-Newington, said he hasn’t heard any complaints about the way the forfeiture process is being handled now and notes that courts have upheld the current system.
“I’m not sure exactly the reason for this attempt” to change the law, he said.
District Attorney Richard Mallard also opposes the bill, which he said would make it much harder to seize drug assets and would place additional limitations on the use of the funds.
“I don’t think there’s any legal or logical reason to do it,” he said.
Mallard said currently, he can use the money to prevent staff from having to take furlough days, but under the new bill, would not be able to use it for any personnel expenses.
The measure elevates the state’s burden of proof from a “preponderance of evidence” to a showing of “clear and convincing evidence” that seized property is subject to forfeiture.
The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm based in Arlington, Va., has said Georgia’s forfeiture laws are “among the worst in the nation.”
The group says forfeiture laws should: require a conviction of a crime before property is forfeited; remove the profit incentive by depositing forfeiture proceeds in a neutral account, such as the state’s general funds, instead of supplementing the budgets of police and prosecutors; and safeguard innocent owners by placing the burden on the government to prove the person knew about the crime or consented to it before they lose their property.