Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jun 2000
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Section: As I See It
Copyright: 2000 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108
Feedback: http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/
Website: http://www.kcstar.com/
Author: Thomas E. Sims
Note: Thomas E. Sims served as a judge on the Kansas City Municipal Court 
for 25 years before retiring in 1995. He was responsible for the creation 
of a separate court docket on domestic violence and he was the first judge 
on that docket.
Related: To Protect and Collect, 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n682/a02.html

DRUG FORFEITURE PRACTICE RAISES ETHICS, FREEDOM ISSUES

When the free press reveals that officials within our public institutions 
are engaged in questionable conduct, the citizenry's suspicion of 
government -- present since 1776 -- is further heightened; an erosion of 
public trust and confidence follows.

The Kansas City Star's "Protect and Collect" series (May 21-22, A-1) about 
the artifice used by police departments, including Kansas City's, to get 
around the state's rule of law governing drug forfeitures, is such an 
example. Most readers would agree that when the rule of law is undermined, 
respect for all government declines, as Joel S. Heller wrote in "Seizure 
laws," his May 28 letter to the editor.

In defense of courts, it is a non sequitur to use the series as a basis for 
the conclusion " ... when the courts show so little respect for 
righteousness ... " as Heller did. Our courts were never constituted by our 
forefathers to serve as the righteous daily supervisors or watchdogs of 
police operations or their ethics. Executive branch officials (mayors, city 
administrators) were established to perform that task.

Courts, as the third branch of government, were designed to stand between 
government operatives and accused individuals to protect individual 
liberty, i.e. as in legislatively mandated court hearings in drug-seizure 
cases.

All readers should be clear on the fact that the Police Department serving 
Kansas City is governed by a state agency, pursuant to Missouri law, as 
Kurt Hoffman said in "Improper forfeitures," his May 29 letter to the 
editor -- a board of police commissioners appointed by the governor.

Departments participating in the practice described have compromised their 
operating ethics where legislatively adopted public policy requires court 
hearings before forfeiture.

Because of Star publicity, will commissioners and police commanders now 
step up to their ethics responsibility and order an end to the practice 
reported? Or will they continue to ignore, for short-term department gain, 
such adopted public policy? If the latter, can any department afford the 
resulting erosion of its public credibility, as letter writer Heller asks?

Can future department budget operating needs be met in the face of 
unanswered public questions about the use to which such seized money was put?

Is any price to be paid where the ethics compromised by these public 
agencies damages the public trust? Can that price be paid without impairing 
the strong law enforcement effort all citizens rely upon for the safety of 
streets, neighborhoods and highways?

Consider the price already paid by: 1) all of us in erosion of our 
collective, Fourth Amendment constitutional freedom against unlawful police 
search and seizure; 2) those whose property was forfeited without court 
awareness and a "constitutional property rights" court hearing; 3) those 
children denied forfeited funds for their education in a world of never 
enough educational funding; 4) character influences on them and others who 
have learned of the police compromise; 5) the erosion of student reliance 
on "Officer Friendly" and DARE school program messages because they learned 
that the "line has become blurred between the good and the bad guys," as 
Star columnist Mike Hendricks wrote on May 24?

Locally, will Kansas City's state commissioners address these ethics and 
erosion of freedom issues? Letter writer Hoffman suggested that it is time 
to hear from them or from Missouri's governor. I agree. That's my opinion. 
Perhaps you share it.

Thomas E. Sims served as a judge on the Kansas City Municipal Court for 25 
years before retiring in 1995. He was responsible for the creation of a 
separate court docket on domestic violence and he was the first judge on 
that docket.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D