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New data show Iowa’s growing take of personal property
Des Moines Register
By Jason Clayworth
September 18, 2016
Iowa law enforcement agencies confiscate cash, vehicles and real estate from at least 1,000 people each year as part of a state program in which no proof of crime is required before the government lays claim to personal belongings.
That represents a massive increase since the 1980s, when state and local governments reported fewer than two dozen such cases annually, according to data obtained by The Des Moines Register through a public records request.
Those data detail for the first time how Iowa’s civil forfeiture laws are being widely used to pump millions of dollars into local law enforcement agency budgets every year, mostly in uncontested cases. In many instances, no criminal charges are ever filed against the person whose property was seized.
Key findings from the Register’s investigation and data analysis include:
- More than $55 million in cash, in amounts ranging from 34 cents to nearly $2.6 million, has been seized from 19,000 people since 1985 under Iowa’s forfeiture laws.
- More than 4,200 automobiles, trucks and motorcycles have been confiscated, including nearly 1,500 in Polk County, since the state began tracking such vehicles in 1991.
- Real estate forfeitures are rare. Only 37 have been recorded since 1998. Such seizures are generally far less lucrative, and the properties are often in disrepair and entangled in liens and ownership questions. Still, law enforcement agencies were able to sell the properties for nearly $1.2 million, or an average of $32,000 each.
- The full scope of forfeitures using Iowa law remains unknown. Not included in the state data are other valuables, such as guns, jewelry, furniture and artwork seized by local law enforcement agencies under Iowa’s civil forfeiture law.
Some lawmakers, civil libertarians and groups that advocate for social justice say modern law enforcement practices have strayed beyond the original intent of Iowa’s forfeiture laws.
“The concerning part is that many of these people whose cash is seized have never been charged with a crime,” said Darpana Sheth, an attorney with Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based nonprofit law firm that has studied the civil forfeiture system.
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