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Asset-forfeiture dependent Sheriff views Hwy 77 as a "piggy bank"

Not long after the Texas State Senate held an informative hearing on law enforcement's use and misuse of asset forfeiture funds, NPR's John Burnett offered up this report I'd missed giving a global overview on the topic, but profiling specifically the Kleberg County Sheriff, who called US Hwy 77 a "piggy bank." Reported Burnett:Federal and state rules governing asset forfeiture explicitly discourage law enforcement agencies from supplementing their budgets with seized drug money or allowing the prospect of those funds to influence law enforcement decisions.There is a law enforcement culture ? particularly in the South ? in which police agencies have grown, in the words of one state senator from South Texas, "addicted to drug money." Part of the problem lies with governing bodies that count on the dirty money and, in essence, force public safety departments to freelance their own funding...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).