“ You follow drug , you get drug addicts and drug dealers . But you set off to play along the money , and you do n’t be intimate where the f * * * it ’s gon na take you . ”
This oftentimes - cite wiseness get along from Detective Lester Freamon , a character in the classic HBO series The Wire , which traverse how an elite task force of ( fictional ) Baltimore pig used electronic surveillance to bring in down criminal web . But , the persuasion is ironic to a fault : if you keep following the money , it might take you right back to the police .
Asset forfeit has long been a subject of controversy in jurisprudence enforcement . Cops and prosecutors have had the power to confiscate dimension and hard cash from suspects before anyone has actually been convicted of a crime ( usually narcotics - related ) . Then these constabulary enforcement authority have stop up a portion of that money ( and money derived from auctioning of property ) into their own budgets , allow them to drop in ways that perhaps would not have pass by scrutiny during the formal annexation process .
Critics mark that asset forfeiture creates a perverse bonus for police priorities : the more assets cops seize , the more money they get to drop . Satirist John Oliver characterized the recitation as akin to “ legalized robbery by law enforcement ” in amust - watch segmenton his show Last Week Tonight . News organizations , includingNew York Times , theNew Yorkerand theWashington Free Beaconhave recently adumbrate abuse of the system .
The skillful news is that , on Friday , the Washington Postreportedthat Attorney General Eric Holder is taking steps to rein in the federal version of the plan , barring DoS and local law enforcement agencies from “ using Union law to seize cash , cars and other prop without evidence that a crime occurred . ”
Last yr , the Washington Post ’s investigative teamused the Freedom of Information Act to liberate hundreds of thou of documents associated with Union asset forfeiture , include the entire ingathering of one-year spending disclosures ( “ Equitable Sharing Agreements ” ) filed with the U.S. Department of Justice by each individual law enforcement agency and task force across the country that receives these funds . The documents reveal a wide variety of spending , from using seized asset to give for unexampled vehicles and helicopters , drug “ corrupt ” money , payments to confidential informants , travelling expenses , law enforcement equipment , and reward for police , such as “ challenge coins .
An examination of these document reveal the connection between seized asset and electronic surveillance across the country . It many fashion , it has been a circular , self - sustaining scheme : asset forfeiture helps law enforcement delegacy give for electronic surveillance , which allows fuzz to seize more money to pay off for electronic surveillance .
According to data compiledby the Washington Post for the years 2008 - 2013 , jurisprudence enforcement delegacy around the country collectively spent $ 121 million of federal asset forfeiture fund on electronic surveillance equipment , an annual nationwide middling $ 20.2 million .
The forms do not understandably set “ electronic surveillance , ” but it typically include the type of equipment used in wiretaps . The amount of seized asset spend on electronic surveillance could potentially be much high , since law enforcement agencies can categorise staff clip spent on surveillance in other categories . Sometimes agencies were n’t certain how to categorise certain engineering science , such as automatic licence plate readers and GPS tracking devices , so they reported them separately under other categories . To put it another means : these turn are just the clod of the iceberg lettuce viewable through public records .
The datum sets are enormous , so let ’s practise down on California . Brace yourself , it ’s about to get mathy .
How Wiretaps Are Used to assume Funds
California law enforcement bureau executed 2,078 wiretap orders between 2011 and 2013 , according to theCalifornia Electronic Interceptions Reports , an yearly accounting of electronic surveillance compiled by the California Attorney General ’s Office . These report card show that these agencies capture hundreds of gazillion of dollar each class in wiretap - related criminal probe , usually involving narcotics or crowd activities , and oft in partnership with Union agencies .
In Los Angeles County , law enforcement means conducted 515 wiretap operations over that three - year period , leading to the seizure of at least $ 25 million in plus . The California Electronic Interceptions Report bring home the bacon details on the result of every unmarried wiretap , which typically include the number of communication theory fascinate , the number of soul affected by the wiretap , and any stay made or drugs or assets appropriate . For good example , you might see that one 2013 LA tap intercepted 9,273 communicating involving 67 people , lead in a single arrest and the seizure of $ 427,000 in say narcotics issue . Or that in 2012 , LA sanction captured 6,176 communications ask 245 masses , result in the seizure of $ 440,000 in say drug money .
The Cost of Wiretaps
Electronic surveillance is n’t flashy . Between 2011 and 2013 , the median cost to do a tap order in California was $ 40,594 , which included $ 36,807 for faculty time and $ 3,787 for equipment - related disbursal .
From a bird ’s eye view , California legal philosophy enforcement agencies conjointly drop $ 84 million on electronic interceptions during that period , an norm of $ 28 million per year . Of that , staff metre spend on electronic surveillance be California agency $ 76 million ( $ 25 million annually ) and equipment - related expenses be $ 7.9 million ( $ 2.6 million annually ) .
In Los Angeles County alone , law enforcement authority spent $ 20.3 million between 2011 and 2013 , include $ 2.1 million on wiretap equipment .
How Seized Assets Were Turned into Electronic Surveillance
When local law of nature enforcement agency participated in Union investigation , the Union government paid them back by divvying out a portion of the proceeds from the seizures . These agencies included police department , sheriff role , and territorial dominion attorney office , as well as investigative labor force that span multiple jurisdictions . These agencies were required to broadly report how they spent the money in a mixture of categories , including electronic surveillance , on an annual base .
Between 2011 and 2013 , law enforcement agencies in California spent a sum of $ 13.6 million in funds from the federal plus forfeiture syllabus on electronic surveillance equipment , a statewide average of $ 4.5 million per class .
To give a sensory faculty of scale : that was enough to breed the cost of wiretap equipment ( including induction fee , supplying , and equipment ) for the full state of California , with change left over .
To look at it another way , that ’s enough to pay for equipment in more than 3,500 wiretaps , far more than these agencies in reality conducted . This could indicate that either agencies may have bought more equipment than they needed to carry out these wiretaps , used the funds to give staff , or that they may have drop pregnant portions of the money on surveillance that does n’t require a wiretap ordering .
Los Angeles County is made up of dozens of local law enforcement agencies and task forces , but two in exceptional systematically jump to the top of electronic surveillance expenditure : the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Office and Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Team ( LA IMPACT ) , a ill-tempered - jurisdictional task force out .
The Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department dug late into seize Union plus forfeiture monetary resource to run its electronic surveillance mathematical process . Between 2008 and 2014 , the LA Sheriff received a total of $ 47.3 million from the Union program and spend roughly $ 4 million of that on electronic surveillance equipment . Meanwhile , LA IMPACT received around $ 30 million in plus forfeiture funds over that time period , two thirds of which it transferred to other law enforcement authority . Of the stay money , about $ 620,000 went towards electronic surveillance .
That ’s how it works ( or work on the federal level before Holder ’s announcement ): police spend money on electronic surveillance , which leads to the seizure funds from suspected malefactor , and then that money is channeled back to police to use on more electronic surveillance .
Holder ’s annunciation could have a significant wallop on how jurisprudence enforcement delegacy fund electronic surveillance . However , it ’s important to remember that the next administration ’s attorney superior general could easily override this insurance policy conclusion . Further , many State Department also have their own plus forfeit programs , so a whole second stratum of financial support remain on the state point .
The Washington Post has free itsgiant cache of Equitable Sharing Agreementsfrom thousands of local law enforcement agencies around the country . We inspire you to apprehend in , detect your local cops , identify out how they ’ve drop this money , and permit the world know what you encounter .
Major thanks goes out to Washington Post data point editorSteven Richand his fellow worker for freeing this datum , making it usable to the public , and assist us wrap our heads around the spreadsheets .
The bulk of the research in this post was compiled prior to Attorney General Eric Holder ’s surprisal announcement that he is curtailing the Union just sharing program . The post may be updated as further branching of the insurance policy decision become clear .
This articlefirst look on Electronic Frontier Foundationand republish here under Creative Commons permit .
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