Pubdate: Sat, 17 Jun 2000
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
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: Matt Stearns, The Kansas City Star,  This article is an update to the KC Star's TO PROTECT AND COLLECT Series
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n682/a02.html

MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES KANSAS CITY POLICE BOARD

The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners is holding $3.4 million in 
money and property that rightfully belongs to area county governments and 
school districts, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon contended in a 
lawsuit filed Friday.

Nixon filed the lawsuit in an attempt to require the board to distribute 
the money and property, which the Police Department has collected mainly 
from seized, abandoned and unclaimed cash and property.

For years the Police Department has kept such proceeds, despite a 1990 
ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court requiring the proceeds to be 
distributed to local school districts. The funds generally must be 
distributed to the county treasurer, the state treasurer or the schools, 
depending on the source of the funds.

In 1997 police filed a lawsuit asking the Jackson County Circuit Court to 
determine how the proceeds should be divided. The lawsuit claimed that 
different and often contradictory laws applied.

That lawsuit was withdrawn in March.

"It's not all seized property," said Dennis Eckold, the police board 
president. "It's not all crime-related....It gets difficult to determine."

Police Department attorney Dale Close, who filed the 1997 lawsuit and then 
later withdrew it, could not be reached for comment Friday.

None of the money collected has been spent, Eckold said.

"We've been holding it, waiting to be told where it should go," he said. 
"We want to cooperate and resolve these issues."

Now that Nixon's lawsuit has been filed, the police board likely will turn 
the cash portion of the proceeds in question over to the court until a 
decision is made, and explore liquidating other assets, Eckold said.

The attorney general's office met with police attorneys earlier this week 
to discuss the issue, Eckold said.

Nevertheless, Police Board attorney Bryan Round said the attorney general's 
lawsuit came "truly out of the blue." He said no one from the attorney 
general's office had indicated the lawsuit would be filed.

"I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it," Round said. "We'll look at 
the facts, look at the law and take appropriate steps."

In a press release issued Friday, Nixon said the board had a statutory and 
constitutional duty to distribute the money in accordance with Missouri 
law. "There still is a need to have this money distributed to the proper 
agency."

The lawsuit also names Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties as other 
potential recipients of the property held by the police board.

To reach Matt Stearns, call (816) 234-4435 or send e-mail to  ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D