Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Justice department says leave money with the sheriff Citing a long-standing policy, an official from the U.S. Department of Justice has told Fayette County’s governing body it will continue to submit funds and equipment from drug seizures to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department. Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn had requested those funds be submitted to the county instead. But a U.S. Department of Justice official indicated in a letter to Dunn that federal law authorizes those funds to be shared “with state or local law enforcement agencies that participated in the law enforcement effort resulting in the forfeiture.” “The recipient law enforcement agencies are, in turn, responsible for compliance with Justice Department regulations and guidelines regarding the accounting for and use of shared funds and property,” wrote Nancy L. Rider, deputy chief of the asset forfeiture and money laundering section of the U.S. Department of Justice. Rider suggested the county commission could review annual reports on the sheriff’s department’s drug funds or undertake its own audit of the funds. She also urged Dunn to report to the justice department “any information indicating any inappropriate expenditures of shared funds.” The sheriff’s department operates a drug task force that works local cases in addition to regional cases by cooperating with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. By participating in DEA busts, the sheriff’s department qualifies for the seized money, which must be spent on items such as equipment, supplies and training. The funds cannot be used to pay salaries. Guidelines of the program require that the funds be deposited into a separate revenue account that is used solely for federal shared money and cannot be mixed with funds from any other source, Rider noted in the letter. “It would therefore not be permissible for equitable sharing for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department to be deposited into the county treasury unless kept in a separate account or under a separate accounting code,” Rider said. Rider also noted that the Justice Department reviewed several Georgia laws cited by Dunn to buttress his claim that the county should receive the funds and equipment instead of the sheriff’s department. But nothing in those statutes prohibits the sheriff’s department from receiving the funds nor does it authorize the county commission,Êinstead of the sheriff, to designate the contact person for the equitable sharing program, Rider said. At the request of Sheriff Randall Johnson, the contact person for the shared asset funds and equipment will continue to be Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, director of investigations for the sheriff’s department. When asked about the letter Monday night, Dunn said the county doesn’t agree with it and is still having discussions with attorneys over the issue. “The letter seems to indicate that we were going to put the funds in our general fund. That was never our intentions. We’ve always known it would have to be in a separate account,” he said. Dunn reiterated the county’s position that all they are seeking is accountability. “We just want it be legal like all the other departments.”