LENGTH: 622 words

HEADLINE: US LAW ENFORCEMENT SEIZURE LAWS MAY BE LEADING POLICE TO TARGET WEALTHY
SUSPECTS WITH LARGE AMOUNTS OF ASSETS

ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS

REPORTERS: FRANK MORRIS

BODY:
BOB EDWARDS, host:

Since the 1980s, US law enforcement officials have seized more than $ 7 billion worth of cash and property from suspected
criminals. In some states, police are allowed to keep some of what they seize. But critics say the practice makes it more likely that
police will target wealthy suspects. Missouri has passed legislation that tightens regulations on how forfeitures are carried out and
who gets the loot. Frank Morris of member station KCUR in Kansas City reports.

FRANK MORRIS reporting:

Federal forfeiture laws give law enforcement agents the right to take property from suspected criminals. No conviction is necessary
for a judge to rule that property is likely crime-related and subject to forfeiture, and Gene Voegtlin with the International Association
of Police Chiefs says that makes them very useful.

Mr. GENE VOEGTLIN (International Association of Police Chiefs): Forfeiture is one of the most effective law enforcement tools
there is on the books today. If you look at what forfeiture does, it truly takes the profit motive out of crime.

MORRIS: Voegtlin says forfeiture offers another plus: It funnels money generated by crime into the fight against it, which
according to Kansas Bureau of Investigation official Kyle Smith also plays a role in public relations.

Mr. KYLE SMITH (Kansas Bureau of Investigation): One of the best uses I've seen in Kansas is when they take cars from drug
dealers, they give them to the departments to use as DARE vehicles. So the kids at the schools and the police resource officers--see
the officers driving the car, maybe a Corvette and say, 'Yeah, that was a drug dealer's, but now it's ours.'

MORRIS: Technically, this would be illegal in states that prohibit police from keeping forfeited property, directing the proceeds
instead to education or drug treatment. But it's widespread because under the Justice Department's equitable sharing program, any
time federal agents are involved in a seizure, $ 4 out of $ 5 go back to the local police or sheriff's department.

Steven Kessler is a former prosecutor-turned-forfeiture attorney. He says that while current laws aim to take the profit motive out of
crime, he's concerned they may instill one in law enforcement.

Mr. STEVEN KESSLER (Attorney): The focus of many law enforcement agencies now is to bring in the money.

MORRIS: Kessler points to a New York City program in which police seize the cars of suspected drunk drivers.

Mr. KESSLER: And surprise, surprise, there are more Jags and Mercedes and BMWs that are being seized and forfeited under the
DWI law than 1982 Chevys and Novas.

(Soundbite of bird singing)

MORRIS: Kevin and Nancy Peterson live a long way from New York in a small mobile home surrounded by ripening wheat in
rural southeastern Missouri. They moved in a few months ago after forfeiting their house and 80 acres.

Mr. KEVIN PETERSON: The house is not that big a deal, but the land really just meant everything to me.

MORRIS: The Petersons were convicted of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. They admit growing pot for their own use, but insist
they never sold it. And Peterson contends it was his property, not his crime, that drew police.

Mr. PETERSON: The conspiracy was on their part, you know? We had no conspiracy. It was them. They wanted that house and
that land.

MORRIS: It was mainly county sheriff's deputies who raided the Petersons' place. But since it was US drug enforcement agents
who formally seized the farm, the local sheriff's department, not the state, will get most of the proceeds.

Missouri state Senator Harry Wiggins says this kind of federal involvement has cost the state education fund millions of dollars,
leading him to push legislation making it more difficult for local officials to bring in federal agents.

State Senator HARRY WIGGINS (Missouri): I don't want to say that police officers who go out and risk their lives for all of us at
night and all day long, for that matter, were out intentionally violating the law. They were taking advantage of an arrangement with
Washington. Well, the Missouri General Assembly did not like that.

MORRIS: Missouri's governor agreed, and recently signed the legislation. Oregon, Washington, Utah and Nevada have also
enacted forfeiture reforms. And with groups as diverse as the National Rifle Association, the ACLU and the US Supreme Court
back further changes, forfeiture critics predict another round of revisions in the near future. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in
Kansas City.

LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2001