The cops don’t want it, but what to do with it and who owns it is proving difficult to figure out.
Halifax Regional Police has generated $12,378 over the last four years by depositing seized drug money into an interest-bearing bank account.
Last year’s Drug Exhibit Audit recommended that practice stop immediately—and the funds be transferred to a non-interest account—because the cash doesn’t belong to HRP.
“It was the Audit team’s position that the police should not make a profit from seized cash that was deposited in the bank account as it’s not our money to make a profit from,” writes HRP spokesperson Theresa Rath Spicer in an email.
While no new deposits are being made, nine months later the account is still collecting interest and the question of what to do with its money is in limbo.
“Given that this was an interest-bearing account and interest did accrue, we need to determine the most appropriate way to deal with that interest and have been seeking external advice as part of this process,” says Rath Spicer.
The dollar amounts being talked about here are largely small, but it does create a tricky situation for the department when it comes to who decides how to spend that money; or what to do if any of its previous owners who were found innocent come looking for their dividends.
Interest-bearing accounts for seized cash aren’t uncommon in other police departments, according to evidence control expert Joseph Latta, but they’re usually handled by city hall’s finance teams and not sworn officers.
Latta is executive director of the International Association of Property and Evidence (IAPE), the standard-bearer for evidence control in the policing industry that HRP cites multiple times in its drug audit reports to demonstrate the department’s own shortcomings.
All that cash collected by police has to be parked somewhere, he says, and so the city might as well make some money off of it. But a police-managed fund is a little more unusual in his experience.
“I say, put it in an interest-bearing account, let the city manage it,” says Latta. “I don’t think the police department needs to even get involved in if the person gets their money back.”
The Special Enforcement Section bank account was opened in 2012, in part as a way to prevent large quantities of cash from sitting around police headquarters where it would be at greater risk of being stolen. According to documents presented last week to the Board of Police Commissioners, an initial bulk deposit of $267,263 was made to the account in September of that year.
Police chief Jean-Michel Blais told the board that the bulk deposit likely contains the nearly $5,000 in seized cash evidence that has gone missing from HRP custody. While the SES department kept a ledger of what went into the account, the initial bulk deposit consisted of a lot of old exhibits—often lacking proper documentation—making it impossible to know for sure where the missing cash has ended up.
Last summer, Criminal Investigation Division superintendent Jim Perrin told The Coast he expected HRM’s auditor general’s office would be stepping in to help to determine what to do with the bank account’s accumulated interest.
The account was audited by Halifax police’s review team over the last several months, says Rath Spicer, but the OAG hasn’t been involved.
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This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2017.
I’d rather have the cash on a bank account earning interest than in that evidence room. We all know what would happen to it there.
It was the Audit teams position that the police should not make a profit from seized cash that was deposited in the bank account as its not our money to make a profit from, And yet nine months later the money is still in that account AND still collecting interest. In other words: Irrespective of the Audit teams position, we say FUCK YOU to them and to those we serve.
And we are to trust the police. Trust.
It’s weird because this does seem to be a common practice in many American cities. I read one news story out of Houston where the audit team for THAT department’s evidence room actually recommended the exact oppositethe money wasn’t in an interest-bearing account and they said it should be.
At the moment this is one of the few uncompleted recommendations made in last year’s Drug Audit, so we’ll see what comes out of it.
The challenge is ownership. If HRPD doesn’t own the money, they do not get to benefit from it. If the money has been determined to be proceeds from crime and HRPD legally seizes it, they then may benefit from any investments. Ignoring the recommendations of the Audit Team is the big F/U; they don’t want to give up the money which they illegally earned.
Today I went through the drive through at McDonalds outside the Halifax Shopping Center, and right after the order box was a kid selling chocolate almonds. Probably 8-10 years old, selling chocolate almonds for $4/box. He sold both the cars in front of me, and also me. 100% closer.
He had a name tag on which I’m sure said something about what he was selling for, it didn’t matter. I didn’t read it nor do I care. It was -20C today and he was right there.
I bought a box. I also bought him a hot chocolate parked to walk back and give it to him. Too cold for him to be out there standing on the cold and sunless and windy side of the building no less.
All this to say, take that $15,000 and give the ‘homeless but trying’ something to work with. Tourist season is coming. House them for a few days, teach and show them and give them something they can sell. Almonds, art, Halifax souveniers. Something. They don’t want to beg and nor should they. Give them something people want, so that passerby’s will look towards instead of away from them, and once the newfound entrepreneurs see how much more effective it is than begging, they will be both empowered and better cared for.
* continued – of course the homeless/pandhandling population has problems that will not be solved by a couple days of workshop and some free product. Half probably won’t make a full day. However, if it works for even just a few people, the rest will see the success and the winners will teach their friends, and the others will witness and start to emulate.
If you travel to Asia or a good number of other countries, you will see people come up to sell you trinkets, not change-askers..
If anyone agrees, I will put in $100 for 3 of us to raise $300 and get some product to get to 3 people. Easy peasy. I chose only 2 other partners because as a seed this is easy to start, and easy for us to chat and decide what/when details.
The three of us could make this happen this week if we want, not a big commitment.. We buy $100 of something sellable and go collectively pick 3 change-askers on Spring Garden to set them up. Might work and be great, might not and cost essentially nothing.
chrisperrotta84@gmail.com email me if you’re in, lets do something great for the city together.
Firstly, no matter where the money came from it should be invested in the very lowest risk yet still interest bearing assets, like short term federal bonds. In terms of addressing the actual article debate about the interest, I’m sure there is a complicated legal framework which is in debate within the city and that’s why it’s still hanging there. My view is each deposit from each case should have it’s own lifecycle. If money is seized that after a court case eventually is determined to be above board or a victim claims it, it should be returned with interest. If that deposit is determined to be proceeds of crime in which there is no victim to claim or expected claimant (closed drug case, counterfeiting). After time, if reasonable efforts to determine likely ownership were made and still no claimants,, give that money to the city anti-crime efforts on X date (statute of limitations?). Obviously some lawyers likely need to be involved to decide how/if that can happen, but at the end of the day if the source $ is a proceed of illicit activities in which there are no ‘victims’ that choose to claim it, that $ belongs to the jurisdiction (city) that found it.
Hey Chris – TLDR…