Simi Police Seize Big Caches for Cash : Raids: The department has collected more than $1.7 million as its share of drug forfeiture funds. And it’s expecting much more.

The Simi Valley Police Department, which last year was credited with the largest seizure of cocaine ever by law enforcement officers from Ventura County, has collected more than $1.7 million over the last five years as its share in the federal drug forfeiture program.

Sometime in the future--the police hope sooner rather than later--the department will more than double that amount in one lump sum when it receives another $1.8 million already promised to it as the city’s share of money seized from Colombian drug dealers and money launderers last summer.

In addition, the department has claims to another $4.1 million in alleged drug money seized during various raids in Simi Valley that is still tied up in the courts because of lawsuits from alleged drug dealers who claim the money legally belongs to them and not to the police.

The upshot is that the Simi Valley Police Department, which is confronted by one of the biggest Colombian drug networks now operating in Ventura County, has amassed some of the most sophisticated police technology in the county for use in its continuing skirmishes with Simi Valley drug dealers.

Simi Valley Police Chief Lindsey (Paul) Miller said the city’s share of drug forfeiture funds received so far has been used for the purchase of 9mm Baretta pistols and holsters for all of his department’s 105 officers.

In addition, the money has been spent on computers, cars and a van specially outfitted with sophisticated evidence-gathering equipment, including a fingerprint laser. He said the money is also used to pay the salaries of three narcotics officers and two DARE officers, who teach anti-drug classes at the elementary school level.

The federal drug forfeiture program, established in 1984, allows local law enforcement agencies who work with federal agents to claim money and property seized in drug arrests.

Police departments can receive up to 80% of the money or property they helped seize in narcotics raids involving federal investigations or prosecution, Lt. Robert Klamser said. The program requires that the money be used for law enforcement purposes and stipulates that it cannot be used to replace current city funding, Klamser said.

Simi Valley, West Covina and Los Angeles police departments were among the first law enforcement agencies to receive money through the forfeiture program after a 1984 joint investigation of a cocaine ring, Klamser said.

The Los Angeles Police Department received $1.4 million and Simi Valley and West Covina each received about $360,000 from that operation, according to police records.

Seized assets are divided among participating agencies based on their participation in an investigation, Klamser said.

For example, the Port Hueneme Police Department provided a narcotics-sniffing dog in a Simi Valley police investigation last August that led to the largest seizure of cocaine ever by authorities from Ventura County--2,068 pounds--as well as $2.4 million in suspected drug profits.

The dog’s efforts are expected to yield a substantial amount of money--the exact amount is yet to be determined--for the 21-officer department.

Port Hueneme Sgt. Dennis Fitzgerald said a year ago that his department received about $16,000 in federal forfeiture funds when it sniffed out more than $500,000 in suspected drug profits and several kilos of cocaine as part of a joint investigation with the Burbank Police Department.

The department is also expected to receive one of two small planes seized last year as part of a U.S. Customs Service investigation.

“The dogs have done a real good job,” Fitzgerald said, adding that his department recently sold one of its two German shepherds to the Ventura County district attorney’s office. “They’re definitely worth their weight.”

Klamser agreed, saying his department has plans to purchase its own trained police dog because of the potential revenue it could generate.

The federal forfeiture program is not without its drawbacks. The amount of time it takes for a local agency to receive a disbursement of federal forfeiture funds could take anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years, Klamser said.

“Generally, the larger the amount, the longer the wait,” he said, noting that the department’s claim of $4.1 million is still pending in court.

In cases where the amounts of drug assets seized are less than $100,000, the federal agency involved, usually the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is allowed to decide how much to return to local authorities.

The state has a similar forfeiture program, but until recently it was easier for local law enforcement agencies to recoup a larger share of drug monies under the federal law, Klamser said.

The main reason was that the state law made it more difficult to seize property and required that the majority of drug money go to mental health and anti-drug education programs, he said.

However, the state law was amended in January, 1989, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to seize cash and other property believed to be the proceeds of drug dealing, said Ronald Janes, major crimes and narcotics supervisor with the Ventura County district attorney’s office. The statute also no longer requires prosecutors to obtain criminal convictions before confiscating these items, Janes said.

The new state law allocates about 85% of suspected drug profits to the police agency participating in the narcotics investigation, with the remainder going to the prosecuting agency and the state.

Since the law was amended, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of local law enforcement agencies using it, Janes said.

“We now have two attorneys who do nothing but forfeiture cases,” he said.