San Diego's Top Cops Comment on ACLU Report, U-T Article About Asset Seizures

SAN DIEGO, CA: San Diego Chief of Police Shelley Zimmerman and San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore released a joint statement Thursday in response to a watchdog article by the The San Diego Union-Tribune about an American Civil Liberties Union report focusing on California law enforcement agencies' use of the federal civil asset-forfeiture program.

The ACLU report accuses cops of "using loopholes to profit from innocent, vulnerable Californians."

"Established in the heyday of the war on drugs — a.k.a. the war on low-income people of color — asset forfeiture laws were supposed to target drug 'kingpins' by confiscating their cash and property," the ACLU of Southern California said upon releasing its report titled, "Profiting from California's Most Vulnerable." "Instead, these laws, which allow law enforcement to keep a portion of what they take, have been abused by those who have a financial incentive to take Californians’ money and property even when they haven’t done anything wrong."

The Union-Tribune article notes that according to the ACLU, San Diego County is home to the 12 agencies who participate most in the program.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department yielded the most asset seizures among all agencies in the state between 2011 and 2014 — 1,511 seizures totaling $6.3 million — while the San Diego Police Department performed 1,498 seizures bringing in $6.8 million during the same time period, the article points out, referring to information contained in the report.

Here is Gore and Zimmerman's statement in its entirety:

"In yesterday's Union Tribune article titled, 'ACLU: Asset Seizure Hits Minorities Hard,' it is important to point out that none of the alleged cases of abuse in the report involve a law enforcement agency from San Diego County. Additionally, in the table, 'California Counties with Highest Per Capita Seizure Rates, 2014,' — again, San Diego County is not listed.

"The ACLU's and Union Tribune's allusions to forfeiture occurring more frequently in 'communities of color' is an attempt to depict law enforcement's efforts, and the accompanying asset forfeitures, as racially biased. Rather, they are a comment on the changing demographics of California. According to the Los Angeles Times of July 8, 2015, 'Latinos Now Outnumber Whites in California.' In fact, the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco are majority minority in makeup. Since a majority of the drug crimes we investigate involve large cities, and large cities have a higher population and more law enforcement officers, it is not surprising that the vast majority of seizure efforts take place in these locales.

"The ACLU and paper refer to 'nearly half' of seizures involving people with Latino surnames. Given the facts that Latinos are the largest demographic group in the state, we have a close proximity to the Country of Mexico and a large percent of the illicit drugs in this state were smuggled over the Southwest border by Mexican drug cartels, this is not a surprising or controversial statistic. It is an attempt to create a belief that law enforcement is unfairly targeting those of Latino ancestry.

"It is well known, that crime is higher in low-income communities — as a result, a majority of our enforcement efforts are concentrated in those areas to limit the victimization of the many law-abiding citizens who are forced to live there. Therefore it is not surprising that seizures are more prevalent in those areas, because drug activity is more prevalent there. One's presence in these communities does not equate to being "at risk" of civil forfeiture proceedings; engaging in criminal behavior does."

The ACLU's report, titled "Profiting from California's Most Vulnerable," can be viewed here.

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