Asset forfeiture training stressed

Utah police are being carefully trained in asset forfeiture laws and procedures, with heavy emphasis on provisions in a new state law to increase protections for property owners and on their rights to due process, a legislative committee was told Wednesday.

Forfeiture law was revamped during the past legislative session after an aggressive campaign by police, who said that a 2000 ballot initiative had stripped away their ability to seize and sell assets obtained by criminals through illegal activity. Forfeitures can be used in a variety of criminal investigations, but are most commonly conducted in drug crimes, with the funds used by police for drug interdiction.

Initiative B, which passed with 60 percent of the vote, forced police to turn over funds from forfeitures to the Uniform School Fund and eliminated the ability for local police to share in federal forfeiture profits. Supporters of Initiative B said innocent property owners were left vulnerable to illegal seizures and had inadequate due process under existing law. Supporters also said the forfeiture process was essentially an incentive that led to "policing for profit."

SB175, which became law in July, overhauled Initiative B, reinstating the federal fund sharing to local police and allowing state forfeiture funds to be funneled into a state criminal justice fund for local police departments to recoup investigative costs. An estimated $4 million in federal funds that had been held in reserve was also released back to Utah police with the passage of SB175.

Kirk Torgensen, a chief deputy for the Utah attorney general, and Chad Platt, a deputy district attorney for Salt Lake County, said they have drafted a training curriculum, a forfeiture reference manual and a model policy and procedures to give police departments the best possible guidelines for conducting forfeitures.

"It's going to be done correctly, it's going to be done with the view of protecting people's rights and with the full array of due process," Torgensen told the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. "We want to bring in actual cases that have gone through the court system to show you the kind of cases we're really doing. We're not targeting innocent people, we have not targeted innocent people and will not target innocent people."

So far two training sessions have been held, one in St. George and one in Salt Lake City, Platt said.

West Valley City police Capt. Craig Black later told the Deseret Morning News that his department has found the initial training helpful, and not just because it explains the intricacies of a new law.