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Attachment B M EMORAN DU M DATE: August 25, 2011 TO: City Manager Bill Malinen FROM: Chief Rick Mathwig SUBJECT: Forfeiture Information This memorandum is in response to Mayor Roe's request for a report related to questions raised by a citizen. Property seized and ultimately forfeited by the Roseville Police Department is governed by Minnesota statutes: 169A.63 as it pertains to vehicle forfeitures for aggravated drunk driving arrests, and 609.531 as it pertains to vehicle and property seized for designated offenses such as narcotics, burglary, and other crimes. Other property forfeited by the Police Department, not governed by Minnesota statutes, is generally related to our narcotics officer assigned to the Ramsey County's Violent Crime Enforcement Team (VCET). A percentage of their forfeitures are in concert with federal agencies such as the DEA. Those forfeitures are under the direction of federal laws which are similar to those in Minnesota. Each Minnesota statute contains numerous subdivisions which strictly control forfeitures and the appeal processes afforded to those whose property is seized by law enforcement. Upon seizure of property to be forfeited the owner is issued a receipt for the property and is issued written documentation on how to contest the seizure in court. This information is written in multiple languages and the law enforcement agency must be certain the person understands the seizure and the appeal process or the seizure will be considered invalid. Once property has been legally seized and forfeited state statutes dictate how the proceeds should be dispersed. This process differs among crimes, but involving aggravated DWI offenses, the law enforcement agency retains seventy percent of the proceeds and thirty percent is forwarded to the prosecuting attorney. For crimes involving narcotics, burglary, etc., percentages differ but in general the law enforcement agency retains seventy percent of the proceeds, twenty percent is forwarded to the prosecuting attorney and the remaining ten percent is sent to the State of Minnesota's Crime Victim's Fund. The Minnesota Peace Officers Standards and Training Board (POST) is the state entity that holds all professional licenses of peace officers in Minnesota. POST provides many functions one of which is offering model policies based on best practices in law enforcement. Some of the model policies are considered mandatory; Procession of Property Seized forAdministrative Forfeiture is a required policy of all law enforcement agencies in Minnesota. The model policy was implemented in 2011. The model policy did not change our forfeiture operations in any significant manner. Minnesota statutes mandate every forfeiture be reported to the Office of the State Auditor.