KCPD raked in more money from federal asset forfeitures last year than any other law enforcement agency in the state

Earlier this week, Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway released a report that compiled information about how much money law enforcement agencies in the state are getting from federal asset forfeitures. You can browse the report here. 

The Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Program allows local law enforcement agencies to keep a good chunk — technically the term is an “equitable share” — of assets seized from citizens during investigations. Often, this is cars, land or cash. The program, which allows local police to skirt state restrictions on how much of what is seized can be kept, is controversial. (The Department of the Treasury administers a similar forfeiture program.)

The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department collected $1.27 million this way in 2016, according to Galloway’s report — more than any other law enforcement agency in the state. 

KCPD has also kept more of what is has seized than any other agency in the state over the life of the forfeiture program, and by a hefty margin. At the end of last year, its fund balance for the program was $9.23 million. Runner-up was the Phelps County Sheriff’s Office. Its balance was just shy of $3 million. 

St. Louis County and St. Louis City, by comparison, have a combined forfeiture fund balance of about $3.8 million. (St. Louis County Police seized about $1.02 million in 2016, second only to the KCPD.)

Galloway’s report also notes that the numbers KCPD sent to the auditor’s office don’t add up. Its “beginning balance plus receipts minus expenditures does not mathematically agree with the ending balance reported.” 

Looking at previous reports, this is true of the KCPD going back to at least 2014. In that year, KCPD reported a fund balance of $8.3 million — about $411,000 more than the expected balance.

In 2015, it reported a fund balance of $8.5 million, about $350,000 more than the expected balance.

And in 2016, its balance of $9.23 million was about $130,000 more than the expected balance. 

Why are the numbers off? 

KCPD spokesperson Stacy Graves tells The Pitch that the “value of the assets” increased during each of those years.

As to how the money is being spent in the department: In 2016, the KCPD reported spending $705,000 from the fund. Graves says more than half of that went to “communications and computers.” About $53,00 went to “electronic surveillance equipment.” The rest — about $230,000 — went into a vague pot called “other law enforcement expenses.” 

Asked whether the big haul in forfeitures in 2016 reflected a few specific large forfeitures or a trend in reliance on this program, Graves said: “The Department received proceeds from one equitable sharing case in the amount of $601,628 and another one in the amount of $233,613.” 

She added that the KCPD has no control over the timing of receipts, because they are administered by the DOJ or the Treasury Department.