FORFEIT THE FORFEITURE?

FORFEIT THE FORFEITURE?

Sometimes a court orders forfeiture of cash, cars or even houses as an additional penalty for criminal activity.

According to Police Chief Jim Cook, Highland Heights has taken possession of---or is about to possess---3 such forfeited vehicles.
There’s an asterisk attached to the fanciest of the forfeited cars---a “loaded” SUV with a foreign nameplate.
The criminal defendant who owned the car owed money on it.  The car loan debt comes with the car.

Cook told Council’s Safety Service Committee (SSC) last week that the cars were forfeited “to the police department”.
Technically I’m not sure that’s correct.
The Highland Heights Police Department doesn’t have its own corporate identity. Legally it’s just an agency/arm of the city, not a separate entity.
Therefore the City of Highland Heights would actually be the forfeiture recipient.
Cook is right in one sense, though.
The police department ultimately benefits because the city earmarks revenue generated by criminal forfeitures for police department use.
The city has the right to sell any property forfeited to it.
Because of the car loan attached to it, the city has two options with regard to the tricked-out, foreign nameplate vehicle:

1. Sell the car, pay off the car loan and pocket any money left over; or
2. Fork over approximately $6,000 to pay off the car loan and take clear title to the car.

Last Tuesday Cook seemed quite hot to pursue the second option.
He told the SSC that he that he could use money from the city’s forfeiture account---the Law Enforcement Trust Fund---to pay off car loan.
His plan for the car?
Let the Suburban Police Anti-crime Network (SPAN) use it as an undercover vehicle.

  What is SPAN?
It’s a specialized regional police unit supported by a consortium of cities, including Highland Heights, Richmond Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village and Gates Mills.
One news story reported:

Formed by six Cleveland suburbs, the Suburban Police Anti-crime Network (SPAN) shares SWAT costs and a radio network, as well as a bomb squad and special traffic crash response unit. Together the communities are better able to afford expensive or high-tech equipment and win grant awards, said Gene Rowe, SPAN chairman and police chief in Richmond Heights.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local-governments-consider-joint-police-districts/nTBxP/

Cook didn’t explain why he was letting the other SPAN cities off the hook financially or why he thought it was okay to saddle Highland Heights taxpayers with the cost of operating, repairing and maintaining the proposed SPAN vehicle.

Those are issues that need to be addressed.

The cost of operating, repairing and maintaining the vehicle might get pretty pricey given the car’s age and mileage, its foreign nameplate, and the fact that it has a large, gas-guzzler engine.  According to edmunds.com the car averages about 14 mpg in the city.
It’s not a Prius, that’s for sure.

Finances aside, there is also a question of whether the car would work well as an undercover vehicle.
Besides the fact that it’s tricked out and has a foreign nameplate, the car has a distinct “premium” color.  
It would definitely stick out among the majority of white, silver, bronze, and black colored cars that currently populate our city streets.

There’s a reason the police don’t tend to use brightly colored distinctive cars as undercover vehicles.
That’s because the bad guys can pick out and identify those kinds of cars quite quickly---and then spread the word on the street to watch out for the coppers.

While the forfeiture car isn’t an orange Gremlin, I think you get the point.

The fact that it is distinct and not a run-of-the mill, bland domestic car certainly increases the likelihood that the forfeited vehicle will be “outed” ---and once that happens the car’s usefulness as an undercover vehicle will be finished, kaput.

Councilman and SSC member Bob Mastrangelo had reservations for another reason. He wasn’t sure that Cook’s proposition made good economic sense.  

 Mastrangelo questioned Cook’s claims concerning the car’s resale value and wondered whether it was really worth paying off the loan and keeping the car.

Cook frankly admitted that he didn’t really “know anything “about that particular make and model of car, but he did point out that it was “loaded” with options, including an in-car entertainment system.  

That’s certainly a novelty for a police vehicle. Most police cars don’t have dvd video systems, I guess because it’s not considered necessary to keep arrested individuals entertained enroute to jail.

Based on his own independent research, Mastrangelo figured the 7 year-old car wasn’t worth more than $8500 max---if it was in excellent condition.

That’s a big “if”.

My research disclosed retail resale figures starting at $6,127 (barely more than the loan payoff amount) and climbing several thousand dollars from there.

After the SSC meeting Council President Cathy Murphy asked Cook to get to the “Car Fax” report detailing the car’s maintenance and accident history.
While Cook told the SSC that a city mechanic had looked at the car and declared that “the whole thing was solid,” he indicated to Murphy that the car might have been involved in some sort of arrest-related collision.

I give credit to Police Chief Jim Cook for thinking about uses for the forfeited car. As I see it, he's just trying to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity.

But coming up with possible uses for the vehicle is really just the first step.
The next step is much more difficult: realistically assessing the true cost of acquiring and owning the car and taking a hard look at whether it’s a good use of taxpayer money or whether it makes more sense to sell the car and use the proceeds for some other law enforcement purpose.

Cook owes it to residents to take that hard look.
After all, Highland Heights taxpayers paid for the police work that resulted in the forfeiture and, under his proposal, they would be saddled with paying for operating, repairing and maintaining the aging, high mileage, low mpg car.

After hearing him talk it seemed pretty clear to me that the police chief really, really likes the forfeiture car.
And why not?
He is, after all, a normal red-blooded American guy----and what normal red-blooded American guy could resist a premium-colored, big-engine, fully loaded foreign nameplate car?

Which got me thinking…

If we really want to teach criminals a lesson, making them forfeit their cars is one thing, but having the Police Chief drive around in their forfeited cars would take it to a whole new level.

I vote we let Police Chief Cook exchange his current aging, bland city-issued car for the tricked-out forfeited one.

Then we can all say:

Take that, you bad guys!

GAZEBO CONCERT

I thought one of my neighbors was engaging in middling Karaoke two weeks ago, and according to the Police Report section of last week’s Sun Newspaper, someone else thought Harry Buffalo Restaurant had overdone it with the volume control on their outdoor audio system.

We were both wrong.

The city held its first concert at the Municipal Center greenspace Gazebo on June 19^th.
My kids---who are part Italian---would have called it “Old Guy” music, but the couple dozen attendees seemed to enjoy the show.

Representatives from the locally owned Hersey’s Ice Cream store were there selling treats, but unfortunately the weather turned a bit too cold for that.

Being an election year, most of the city’s elected officials turned out---even (soon to be retiring) Councilman Frank Legan, who fought tooth and nail trying to preserve the decrepit, substandard old church building that once stood on the site.
Another concert is scheduled later in the summer.

SEE HOW OUR GARDEN GROWS

The abundant rain has made the Community Gardens flourish. There certainly is a lot growing.

MOVEMENT AND CHANGE

Although things have been pretty quiet lately, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing’s going on in the city.

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

Sgt. Bruce Balzano received a Resolution of Appreciation at the June 11^th Council meeting in honor and recognition of his retirement from the Highland Heights Police Department.

Patients of dentist Dr. Stephen Bloom can breathe easy. Although her husband is hanging up his uniform, Peggy Balzano doesn’t plan to turn in her dental hygienist instruments quite yet.

 

Sgt. Bruce Balzano

Peggy Balzano looks on as her husband is honored

Mayor Scott Coleman reads Council's Resolution of Appreciation

MAJOR ROAD PROJECTS IN THE WORKS

Mayor Scott Coleman and Council are apparently moving forward with a plan to take advantage of historically low interest rates in order to increase the number of badly needed infrastructure projects that the city can get done, beginning this year.

While no debt-related legislation has yet appeared on the agenda, on June 11^th Council authorized engineer Brian Mader to do preliminary work for road improvement projects impacting Miner and Ford Roads, Radford Drive and the Municipal Center.
That work is in addition to previously authorized preliminary engineering work for Highland and Miner Roads.

Mader will also apply for state “Issue 1” funding, which could help offset some of cost of the city’s infrastructure work.

STILL NO UNION CONTRACTS

Council pulled a resolution authorizing Mayor Scott Coleman to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the union representing members of the Highland Heights Fire Department.
Those labor negotiations have been dragging on since late last year.

Law Director Tim Paluf recommended pulling the resolution. He explained that he was still waiting for the union to return the final proposed contract to him.
Paluf didn’t indicate whether the delay was a minor issue or a cause for concern.

NOVEMBER COUNCIL ELECTIONS

While elections always add some uncertainty to the Council mix, one thing is crystal clear: not every current Council member will be running for reelection in November.

Work demands have reportedly caused Councilman-at-large Frank Legan to decide to bow out when his at-large Council term ends in December. 

Former Council President Scott Mills, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011, has pulled nominating petitions for both Ward 4 and Legan’s at-large seat.

Meanwhile, Ward 4 Council Rep Lisa Stickan told me on Saturday that she hopes to fill the vacancy caused by Legan’s departure.
Stickan said that although she has very much enjoyed serving the residents in Ward 4, the opening of an at-large seat is:

“…an opportunity that I can’t ignore. I am ready to step up to the plate and serve residents throughout the entire community.” 

As a result of a recent Charter change, the individuals elected to fill at-large Council seats this November will serve four (rather than two) year terms.

Ward reps, on the other hand, will have to be patient.

They won’t begin serving extended terms until January 2016….which means they have survive both this year’s and the November 2015 election before they can take a breather.