Forfeiture report shows law takes $6.9 million in 2013

ST. PAUL - Law enforcement agencies from a nine-county area in west-central Minnesota seized a net of $92,051 in cash and property in drug and drunken driving related cases in 2013.
According to the criminal forfeitures report issued Wednesday by Rebecca Otto, State Auditor, the state’s law enforcement agencies reported 6,955 individual cases of property seized subject to forfeiture, of which 91 percent were related to drugs or impaired driving.
Of the 6,995 individual cases, 4,919 involved cash, property sold by the state or an agreement that required compensation to the enforcement agency. The total value of sold property and seized cash totaled $8,777,183, after expenses and returning property to some owners due to court orders, the law enforcement agencies gained a total of $6,925,472.
Data from the Brown-Lyon-Redwood Drug Task Force, which serves Brown, Lyon, Redwood and Renville counties, and the CEE-VI Drug Task Force, which serves Yellow Medicine, Chippewa, Swift, Meeker and Kandiyohi counties, plus the Willmar Police department and the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s department, show 61 percent of forfeitures were related to drugs and 32 percent were related to drunken driving. Statewide, 46 percent of forfeitures were related to drugs and 45 percent to impaired driving.
In 2013, the BLR task force netted $21,086 and the CEE-VI task force took in $27,791.
In 2013, CEE-VI took two vehicles, 30 guns and had 26 cases involving the forfeiture of cash. BLR had cases involving one motorcycle, three vehicles and 10 cases involving cash.
The Willmar Police Department had forfeitures for 22 cars and one case involving the forfeiture of cash. The department netted $28,091 for the year.
The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office’s cases involved four guns, a snowmobile, 20 vehicles and two cases involving cash. The net to the Sheriff’s Office was $15,101 for 2013.